The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Long before the city administration hatched its plan to operate water taxis on Jakarta's rivers, Jakarta residents had eretan.
Eretan are boats tied to metal cables that can carry around a dozen of people, or a few motorcycles and a few people, across the city's rivers.
"I've been ferrying people across the river for 10 years," said 56-year-old Kanam, one of more than 10 eretan operators on West Jakarta's Angke River.
He said he had no other source of income apart from operating the local eretan.
"If the city's water taxis operate on the Angke River then I'll lose my only livelihood, but I can't do anything if the administration bans me from working on this river," he said.
The Jakarta Public Works Agency is running a water taxi pilot project along the Ciliwung River for a 2-kilometer line serving Karet, Halimun and Dukuh Atas.
The agency plans to add another route along the Angke River in 2007. To do this, three bridges, at Genit, Pesing and Teluk Gong, will have to be raised to allow the taxis to pass beneath.
The head of water treatment and management division of the Public Works Agency, Suparman, said the Public Works Agency would have to coordinate with the transportation agency to carry out the project.
"We have not discussed if the eretan could stay in business when the water taxi starts operation... we're still concentrating on the pilot project on the Ciliwung River," he said.
The eretan helps many people living near the Angke River to avoid the daily traffic congestion caused in part by the administration's unfinished projects.
Jusiah, one eretan passenger, who lives in Pesing Poglar, West Jakarta, often crosses the river to Tubagus Angke when she wants to go downtown.
She said taking eretan saved her time, since she did not have to deal with the traffic involved with making a U-turn at Pesing Bridge, which is around 200 meters away Pesing Poglar.
Pesing Bridge is the only way for motorists from Cengkareng in Tangerang and Muara Kapuk and Kamal Muara in North Jakarta, to get to Kota in Central Jakarta or Grogol in West Jakarta. Genit Bridge, the only alternative route, is closed due to unfinished road work.
"Using the eretan is faster and cheaper," Jusiah said, saying it took her less than five minutes and Rp 500 (about US 6 cents) to cross the river.
She added that if she rode a bus or mini van, the trip would have taken her 10 to 20 minutes and cost her Rp 2,000.
Appalling traffic congestion can also be seen in the Teluk Gong, North Jakarta. The city administration has stopped building the Teluk Gong Bridge over the Angke River due to financial constraints.
And the administration does not seem to be in a hurry to fix the situation. "We should wait for the Transportation Agency to propose the project together with the water taxi," said Suparman.
Titi Sasmita, 44, a resident, said that the construction work was abandoned two years ago.
He said the city's plan to expand the water taxi route to Angke River was a good idea since there were many markets along the river.
"There'll be a lot of people interested in using (the water taxi) as long as the administration operates the water taxi seriously and fixes the condition of the area along the river," he said.
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