JPO Iron Plate Floors in West Jakarta Area Often Missing, Government Asked to Be Careful and Firm

The Chairman of RT 012 RW 013 in Cengkareng Timur sub-district, West Jakarta, Muhammad Hipni explained that the incident of the missing iron floor plates in the pedestrian overpass (JPO) on Daan Mogot Road, 12.8 kilometers away from Cengkareng, West Jakarta, has occurred repeatedly over the past three months. Initially, theft only targeted a few steps on the JPO, but at the end of July 2023, several iron plates were stolen.

Following this, the Department of Public Works of DKI Jakarta reinstalled the replacement iron plate on Wednesday (2/8/2023). Not even one day later, on Thursday (3/8/2023), the iron plate went missing again. According to local residents, the iron plate was stolen at night.

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From observations in the field, the pedestrian overpass (JPO) that serves as a crossing for residents from Cengkareng Timur Village to Rawa Buaya Village or vice versa has been "patched" by the City Public Works Department. About four new iron plates were installed to replace the missing ones.

"Incidents like this have often occurred since last year. This year, it may have happened three or four times. Finally, the neighborhood association reported it to the Ministry of Public Works to be followed up. It endangers the residents as it is being used to cross. It is not possible to cross the highway," he said in Jakarta on Wednesday (9/8/2023)."

After the incident, a similar event occurred at the Daan Mogot Kilometer 18 JPO, Semanan Village, West Jakarta on Sunday (6/8/2023). Four sheets of iron plates were stolen around 2:00 a.m. As a result, there are several dangerous holes in the JPO that could harm residents passing through.

Sumaedi (55), an ojek driver who usually waits for passengers right near the JPO, learned about the incident from someone who was about to pass by. Hearing this, he and a number of other ojek drivers checked and found that at least four pieces of iron plate were missing.

"This is the first time it has happened, several school children who wanted to cross became very disturbed. Luckily, there were some motorcycle taxi drivers who helped them cross the highway," he said.

Kinerja disorot

The performance of the Department of Public Works of DKI Jakarta Province has recently come under scrutiny. Previously, a student named Sultan Alfatih (20) and a motorcycle taxi driver named Vadim (38) became victims due to poor utility network management. Currently, there are cases of missing steel plates in several pedestrian bridges (JPO) that also pose a potential hazard to the public.

Member of Commission D of the Jakarta Regional People's Representative Council, Justin Adrian, assesses that the Jakarta Department of Public Works (Bina Marga) is not careful enough in supervising its assets. This is due to repeated incidents that have occurred. Moreover, there has been no firm punishment for those responsible for the negligence.

He hopes that the Bina Marga Service can improve its supervision by building a control center (command center) that is integrated with other agencies and the police. This effort is so that every managed asset is well maintained and does not endanger the community.

"The annual budget for the Highways Service is approximately Rp. 4 trillion. There was once a proposal regarding the construction of a command center several years ago, but until now it was not clear what the progress was like. This incident has been repeated and no one has taken any action until now," he said.

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On a separate occasion, the Head of the Kalideres District Bina Marga Implementation Unit, Esih, stated that he had replaced the stolen iron plate. Efforts to tighten supervision were carried out by Satpol PP to prevent the theft of JPO iron plates from happening again.

"We are coordinating with the Public Order Agency. This incident seems to have occurred at night. Before stealing, they allegedly turned off the pedestrian bridge lights first," he said briefly.

Meanwhile, the Head of Kalideres Police Commissionaire Syafri Wasdar stated that they are currently investigating the alleged theft of steel plates at the overpass in West Jakarta. He cannot confirm if the two theft cases were perpetrated by the same culprit. "We will check to reveal the case as soon as possible," he said.