TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Jakarta Legislative Council (DPRD) Commission B overseeing economic affairs decided to postpone the proposed budget of Rp73 billion for the construction of bicycle lanes set by the city Transportation Agency.

The delay was taken since the commission planned to explore the master plan of the construction. “So we need to delay [the budget] for bike lanes first,” said the commission secretary Pandapotan Sinaga at Jakarta DPRD, Monday, October 28.

Pandapotan reiterated that one of the reasons for the delay was the extremely high additional budget from Rp4.4 billion to Rp73 billion. Besides, the procurement of bicycle lanes was not urgent.

Another member of the Commission B Manuara Sihaan seconded Pandapotan’s statement. He questioned the urgency of the program, especially concerning attempts to curb congestion.

Manura also asked for the master plan and suggested to scrap the budget if the provincial administration did not yet design the master plan. "If you can't show the master plan, I suggest it be removed," he said.

Responding to this, Transportation Agency head Syafrin Liputo was ready to explain the master plan on the construction of the bicycle lane. "This is a flagship program and is necessary. We hope the program will be resumed," he said.

As for the urgency, Syafrin claimed there was a hike in the number of the use of bicycles on the designated lanes during the trial run. "Averagely, 47 or 48 cyclists pass the lanes per hour from initially only 8 cyclists per hour," he added.

Syafrin went on to say that there would be an additional budget of Rp69 billion next year since the construction of bicycle lanes was the priority program of Jakarta. “The budget of Rp4.4 billion was allocated when the program was not included in the priority list,” he concluded.

TAUFIQ SIDDIQ