Permata Hijau Flyover Avoids One Level Crossing

Jakarta is famous for its traffic jams. People are accustomed to cars and motorcycles packing on Jakarta streets. The number of cars and motorcycles are increasing significantly but very little new roads are built. To cope with this grave situation, Jakarta City Government built flyovers in several places especially above the roads crossing the peripheral railway track to curb the possible accidents colliding with the train. 

One of them is Permata Hijau flyover built crossing the railway Tanah Abang-Rangkasbitung completed in the first week of January 2016. Its length measured 533 meters and 12-meter height with a construction cost of Rp131 billion. 

Prior to the construction of the flyover, the road connecting Permata Hijau and Senayan is always packed with cars and motorcycles in the morning and afternoon especially at the spot where the road crosses over the railway tracks causing people to be late to go to offices or be back home in the afternoon.

The contractor was able to complete such a huge task successfully especially when they had to set the construction during the rainy season. Believe it or not, although we live in the modern era, a rumor circulated that while constructing the flyover the contractor hired 12 metaphysicists from Kalimantan, Central Java, and Banten to prevent the rain from falling down at the constructional area, thus, preserve the quality of wet cement from degrading. 

Though it is contrary to the logic, some people still use the service of metaphysicists to prevent rain in a wedding or cultural ceremony and performance but it looks funny when applied for civil construction work such Permata Hijau Flyover. 

Notwithstanding just few hundred meters from the flyover, there is a small pathway crossing the railway that some people still drive their cars and motorcycles across causing the danger of collision with the train remains. There are some free-lance boys (popularly called Pak Ogah) who guard the railway-crossing, but they work occasionally.

It seems that the purpose of Permata Hijau flyover construction which costs hundreds of billions of rupiah is in vain. The public discipline should be strongly held. The attitude of the government towards the people’s indiscipline is too weak especially to those considered as marginal such those who occupy the railway track or river banks.

We are waiting for firm action from the local authority. We can no longer tolerate people who don’t mind with the government effort to manage the traffic spending billon of rupiah. On behalf of orderliness, people should be ready to just take a little tour using the new imposing flyover built to make life better.