TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - State highway operator PT Jasa Marga is spending Rp25 billion to improve the integration of toll payments of its' highways under its' management - which includes Jakarta-Cikampek and Palimanan-Kanci Tollway. The Executive Director for PT Jasa Marga, Adityawarman, said that the fund is going to be used to construct additional toll gates, as well as upgrading the softwares and hardwares that are currently being utilised in all their gates.
These additional investments, said Aditywarman, will not cause an increase in toll tariff. "This is a part of our effort to increase our service to road users," said Adityawarman at the Ministry of Public Works and Housing on Wednesday, March 4, 2016. The integration will, he continued, will be effective on June 13, 2016.
The integration of the toll payments is aimed to improve the holidaymakers' traffic flow by dividing them into two segments. The first segment - where charges will first be applied to holidaymakers - will allow them to travel through Jakarta, Cikampek, and all the way to Cikopo and Palimanan. The second segment, will charge travellers to travel between Palimanan, Kanci, and East Brebes.
The Minister for Public Works and Housing, Basuki Hadimuljono, has called on Jasa Marga to be better prepared ahead of the upcoming holiday exodus, as President Joko Widodo himself has said that he does not want to see a trail of travellers snaking for kilometres from the nearest tollgate. "In principle, we can understand his demand - but we really cannot predict when the amount of travellers will peak along the highway," said Hadimuljono - although he did say that from experience, travellers tend to leave after they break their fast, thus creating snaking congestion that goes for kilometres during the evening and nighttime.
As such, Hadimuljono has asked travellers to consider timing their journeys more efficiently, so the roads won't be clogged.
The Deputy Executive Director for PT Lintas Marga Sedaya (LMS), Hudaya Aryanto said that the payment integration could reduce traffic congestion to up to 70 percent - especially between Cikarang and East Brebes - where the number of traffic barriers will be reduced from seven to three.
ALI HIDAYAT
