The Public Works Ministry on Sunday announced that road works taking place on the Pantura highway, Java’s northern coastal road, would be put to a halt 30 days before Idul Fitri to anticipate traffic caused by people traveling to their hometowns toward the end of Ramadan.
“Traffic areas are usually caused by temporary markets [on the streets] or bottleneck roads,” Public Works Deputy Minister Hermanto Dardak said in a statement on Sunday, as quoted by the state-run Antara news agency.
The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) had in previous months dedicated a special focus on the Pantura highway, which has continued to draw criticism over the years due to congestion and poor maintenance resulting in heavy traffic on the days surrounding Idul Fitri.
“We have given the Pantura highway a special focus,” BPK chief Rizal Djalil said earlier this month, adding that many had questioned the seemingly endless roadworks being conducted along the route.
According to Rizal, BPK findings showed that the road along Pantura was easily damaged because vehicles frequently weighed above the maximum axle load.
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