President Chairs Meeting On Road Repair

Jakarta, Feb 7 (Antara) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono chaired a limited cabinet meeting to discuss optimal efforts to repair roads damaged by flooding in a number of regions, here on Friday. "I think Pak Joko Kirmanto (the public works minister - ed), the strength of emergency response must be intensified to make it work, because the number of seriously damaged roads is not small," the president stated in the opening of the meeting, which was held at the presidential office. Based on his observation during the recent working visits to West and Central Java provinces, the head of state noticed that additional personnel and equipment are needed to fix the damaged roads that have disturbed the logistics distribution. The president noted that he has requested the army chief of staff to deploy personnel from the Zeni construction unit to help repair the damaged roads. He expressed hope that the emergency response efforts to fix the potholed roads will be carried out optimally. Meanwhile, in Jakarta, the floods have damaged large swathes of 619 road sections and the surrounding areas, leading to a large number of potholes. "The flooding has damaged roads, forming potholes of small and large diameters. The inflicted damages have led to traffic jams and accidents," stated the Jakarta Police`s Traffic Director Senior Commissioner R. Nurhadi Yuwono recently. "The capital city`s police have called for a coordinating meeting with the city`s public works office to discuss road repair efforts," he claimed. In Central Jakarta, there were 120 potholed road sections and 27 of them were repaired by the public works office. In North Jakarta, there were 136 potholed road sections and only seven were repaired, he added. In West Jakarta, there were 91 potholed road sections and 52 were fixed. In South Jakarta, there were 157 potholed road sections, and no repairs have been done, he explained.