The safety, security, and health of homecoming travelers using land, air, and sea transportation must be ensured, so that this year`s Lebaran exodus season would be more comfortable.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The government is ready to serve some 19 million people across the country who will be traveling this week to their hometowns to celebrate the post-fasting Eid al-Fitr or Lebaran festivities.

Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi stated that the government has accorded priority to the safety and increased services for travelers during this years Lebaran exodus, when the number of travelers are expected to increase by 5.5 percent from 18 million last year.

The safety, security, and health of homecoming travelers using land, air, and sea transportation must be ensured, so that this years Lebaran exodus season would be more comfortable.

"Ensuring the safety, security, and increased services is a must. All this must be followed with high discipline (both by officials in charge and travelers)," Minister Sumadi noted while inspecting the readiness of the Makassar Seaport in South Sulawesi on Saturday (June 17)

The Ministry of Transportation said on its official website that Sumadi had conducted ramp checks on land, sea, air, and rail transportation modes.

To ensure safety, vehicles such as buses, which have no ramp check stickers, are not allowed to operate. "My message to the governor is that buses that do not have a pass ramp check marker should not operate," he remarked.

"I have asked Pelni (state-owned shipping company) and ASDP (state-owned waterway transportation services) to do a ramp check on their ships," he revealed.

The Ministry of Transportation predicted that the number of travelers during the Lebaran season this year would reach 19 million travelers, or up 5.5 percent from 2016, which stood at 18 million travelers.

The minister mentioned that air transport would experience the highest growth. "The total number of travelers is expected to reach 19 million, of which 5.4 million will travel using air transportation modes, or an increase by 9 percent. The growth of sea and land transportation passengers is relatively stable, while travelers using private transportation are estimated to increase by 10 percent," the minister pointed out.

As part of ensuring the smooth transportation, notably land transportation, Minister of Public Works and Public Housing Basuki Hadimuljono inspected the road infrastructures in Java.

The busy lanes during the Lebaran exodus are roads in Java, such as those in the northern coastal areas and toll roads, particularly the Trans-Java toll roads, which connect Marak of Banten province in western part of Java with Banyuwangi in eastern part of the island.

Last week, Hadimuljono had inspected the Pejagan-Pemalang toll road section in Central Java. The Pejagan-Pemalang toll road is part of the Trans-Java toll roads.

The toll road in Central Java will be ready for use during this years Lebaran exodus. "The quality of the toll road is good, and it is durable," Hadimuljono stated.

The Toll Road Regulatory Agency (BPJT) has prepared parking bays to support the main rest area along the roads. The parking bay can be used to prevent congestion on the toll road.

The minister also inspected this facility. Based on ANTARAs observation, the minister inspected the parking bay at the 18-kilometer mark on the Jakarta-Cikampek toll road (part of the Trans-Java toll road) in Bekasi, West Java.

"The condition of the Jakarta-Cikampek toll road is very good," he stated.

The toll road operator also has a control room to monitor the traffic condition. On the occasion, the minister received an update on the control room that monitors the movement of vehicles through closed-circuit television.

The officers can know the location of vehicular traffic through the control room. "We continue to make improvements. The flow of the annual exodus this year is expected to be better than the previous year," the minister remarked.

He said that the infrastructure was ready to be used by vehicles during the Lebaran exodus.

In the meantime, in anticipation of health problem, the government has prepared health care centers and two-wheel ambulances to provide health services for Lebaran travelers.

The central and regional governments have collaborated with private institutions to prepare 3,826 healthcare facilities around the homecoming routes across Indonesia during the 2017 Lebaran, Director General of Health Services of the Ministry of Health Bambang Wibowo said on Thursday (June 15)

He pointed out that the number of health facilities had increased as compared to last year when 3,583 health facilities were prepared.

The health facilities include 913 temporary health posts spread across 15 provinces in Indonesia, 2,228 community health centers, 374 hospitals, 207 port health offices, and 104 public security centers that are integrated with 119 telephone centers. Of the total telephone centers, 71 were located around the homecoming routes.

Wibowo stated that every health post in a rest area has a doctor, two nurses, an ambulance driver, at least a four-wheel ambulance, and a two-wheel ambulance.

The two-wheel ambulance is a modified motorcycle fitted with siren lights and a box containing emergency medical equipment such as blood pressure monitoring devices, stethoscopes, thermometers, immobilization devices, medicines, mini oxygen cylinders, and infusion tools.

The two-wheel ambulances will be deployed in areas such as Brebes, Tegal, Pemalang, and Batang, with high potential for traffic jams.

"Some 45 ambulances will be stationed in Brebes, 8 in Pemalang, 17 in Tegal, and 22 in Batang," he revealed.(*)

Reporter: Andi Abdussalam
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2017