Fixing Congestion Problems, City Government Focuses on Medium and Long Term Policy

Responding to this activity, the Mayor of Bandung, Yana Mulyana said, the problem of congestion in the city of Bandung is a necessity. Because, the population of the city of Bandung is increasing during the day.

"During the day, the population reaches 3.7 million people. While at night it reaches 2.5 million. Of course, the carrying capacity of the road needs to be increased along with the increasing use of new vehicles," Yana said, Wednesday, November 2, 2022.

He said the City Government of Bandung had tried to encourage the use of public transportation to be integrated in order to unravel congestion in the medium to long term.

"In the short term, we have done, such as road engineering. Meanwhile, in the medium term, we need to optimize existing public transportation and encourage people to use it," he said.

In fact, for the long-term plan, he said, train-based public transportation will increase in the city of Bandung, such as the MRT and LRT.

"The north-south corridor of the MRT from Babakan Siliwangi-Leuwipanjang Station has been completed. We hope that by the end of 2022 or early 2023 there will be an auction process in the province because this is assistance from the center and the province," he said.

Buses can also be one of the solutions that are optimized as an effort to break down congestion in the city of Bandung. In fact, the discourse will present ASN Buses to reduce vehicle density.

However, he admitted that he still needed to find points to make it easier for ASN to park their personal vehicles and leave.

"We determine the parking of the motorbike at that point, later using the bus to City Hall and Jalan Cianjur. Hopefully this can reduce congestion as well because the average traffic jam is in the morning and evening," he said.

As for the medium and long term, Yana hopes that other recommendations can be made from the results of this FGD.

"Hopefully this FGD can produce short, medium, and long-term policies or plans to unravel the congestion problem in the city of Bandung," he hoped.

The Head of the Bandung City Transportation Agency, Dadang Darmawan, conveyed the same thing. He said the efforts that have been made include road engineering, such as on Jalan Sukajadi and Cipaganti.

"Recently, we also did it on Jalan Sukabumi. Then, with the new Kopo flyover, it also helps to relieve congestion in the area around Jalan Kopo, Leuwipanjang, Cibaduyut, to Moh. Toha," Dadang admitted.

Meanwhile, Head of the Department of Water Resources and Highways (DSDABM), Didi Ruswandi said road repairs would continue to be carried out to reduce congestion.

"The Ahmad Yani road from Kosambi to Persib Field is still in the process of being repaired. Apart from that, it is only minor repairs. We will continue to patch the potholes," said Didi.

According to him, road widening has not become the current policy. This is because it needs to be adjusted to the budget of the DSDABM.

He added, meanwhile, to prevent flooding, which is one of the causes of congestion, his party will reuse the old Cisaranten dead time.

"We will open the plan and monitor it. If it is safe, it will be one of the drainage channels from the flood at the Gedebage intersection. For the number of embankments that need to be repaired, there are 29 more. But the repairs are small," he added.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Bandung Kulon Police Traffic Unit, Brigadier Pepen Ahmad Supriatna said, in addition to the improvements made by the Bandung City Government and other stakeholders, the role of the community is also very important to break down congestion in the city of Bandung.

"Of course the facilities in the city of Bandung, such as roads and transportation, have been supported. However, we need the role of the community to support all these facilities. For example, don't litter. Because the floods that occur also cause congestion," said Pepen.

He hopes that all levels of society can love the city of Bandung, feel ownership so that they are involved and keep the condition of the city of Bandung getting better.

"The role of the police is also important. From 06.00 WIB, everyone has to be in their respective plots to help keep traffic running smoothly," he said.

In the long term, he said, there needs to be a further role from experts. Because, it takes time to research and consider long-term policies related to congestion problems in the city of Bandung.

"Earlier, we also discussed being aware of traffic at an early age. Because it is very important if our young generation trains from now on to order traffic," he added.

This FGD was attended by 100 participants from relevant stakeholders, such as Dishub, Satlantas, DSDABM, academics, as well as members of the council. The results of this FGD will be in the form of recommendations related to the City Government's plan to deal with congestion in the city of Bandung. (din)**

Head of the Bandung City Communication and Information Technology

Yayan A. Brilyana