TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan appealed to Jakartans to not blame the city administration for any incident, such as fire, occurred under the elevated toll road because his side did not have authority in its management.

“So if there is a problem under toll road, don’t ask us,” said Anies in MRT ASEAN Station, South Jakarta, on Wednesday, April 10.

According to him, the toll road operator did not well manage the space under the toll road. Yet when trouble happened, the blame was on the city administration. “People goes mad at the Jakarta administration, while in fact, [under the toll road] is not ours,” he underlined.

Read also: Anies Baswedan Tries MRT, Transjakarta Integration System

Anies said that he had sent a letter on March 6, 2019, to the Public Works and Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono, asking the central government to hand out the management authority of under toll road to Jakarta.

On the letter, Jakarta provincial administration requested a permit to utilize a vacant space under Plumpang-Pluit toll road and Grogol Pluit to establish an interactive and productive activity for the locals. Anies promised to use the under toll road based on its provision.

Anies Baswedan also determined to solve an issue of the piles of trash dumped underneath the toll road of Pluit, North Jakarta. “Not only Pluit but all toll roads. The space under toll road is not managed. Because its [management] does not belong to us, so ask for the responsibility to the operator,” he concluded.

LANI DIANA WIJAYA