TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Ministry of Public Works and Housing’s (PUPR) Toll Road Regulatory Agency (BPJT) Head, Danang Parikesit, said that his side is mulling over the request of Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan for a bicycle lane along a section of the inner-city toll road.

“We have just started to evaluate it with Bina Marga,” Danang told Tempo on Wednesday, August 26. The toll road section proposed by Anies, he added, is still under construction for the next two years.

Danang explained that the government prioritized public safety and security from the plan implementation, as well as business or investment arrangements with BPJT that had concession deals with the PUPR Ministry.

The request was reportedly noted in a letter No. 297/-1.792.1 dated August 11, 2020, following the increasing number of cyclists in the capital city and its surrounding regions.

Quoted from the letter which went viral on social media, Anies asked the PUPR Minister to set up one section of the west side of the inner-city toll road of Cawang-Tanjung Priok as bike lanes in order to accommodate cyclists every Sunday from 6 to 9 a.m.

Anies Baswedan said the Jakarta provincial administration is striving to construct bicycle lanes massively. The capital city now has 63-kilometer bike lanes across 22 streets and pop-up bike lanes along Jalan MH Thamrin-Sudirman as the implementation of the gubernatorial policy on transitional PSBB or large-scale social restriction.

Based on data from July 20-26, 2020, there are 82,380 cyclists with an average hike of 15 percent from the first week to the seventh week of the transitional PSBB.

Read: Jakarta Scheduled to Add Bicycle Lanes, says Deputy Governor

CAESAR AKBAR