East Kotim Transportation Agency Restricts Heavy Vehicles Passing On Sampit City Inner Road During Busy Hours

The East Kotim Transportation Agency ordered heavy vehicles that entered the city during peak hours, Thursday (1/8/2024). (ANTARA/HO-Dishub Kotim)

The Department of Transportation (Dishub) of East Kotawaringin Regency (Kotim), Central Kalimantan, has restricted heavy vehicles from crossing the inner road of Sampit City during peak hours as an effort to provide comfort and safety for other residents. Acting Head of the East Kotim Transportation Agency, Rody Kamislam, emphasized that specifically for heavy vehicles or cargo trucks that enter the city during their operating hours, his party made arrangements. "This is so that (heavy vehicles) do not sporadically enter the city like ordinary vehicles,” he said in Sampit, Antara, Sunday, August 4. Heavy vehicles crossing the inner road of the city are still a problem in Sampit, because the vehicle is actually not allowed to pass inside a densely populated city. In addition, the limited road capacity is only allowed to be passed by vehicles with a maximum weight of 8 tons of the heaviest axis charge. However, the East Kotim Transportation Agency still provides dispensation or leniency and cannot completely prohibit heavy vehicles from passing, because road infrastructure has not yet supported it. Mohammad Hatta Street or South Ring Road which is intended for heavy vehicles, currently the condition is heavily damaged and has the potential to cause incidents if the vehicle is loaded through the road. Meanwhile, the status of the road is a provincial road, so that the authority to repair roads is in the Central Kalimantan Provincial Government. The Kotim Regency Government through a consortium with a number of large private companies has made emergency repairs with aggregate material on the road to make it functional. However, over time and many heavy vehicles passed with road capacities that did not meet the standards, so that the road was damaged again. The Kotim Regency Government has proposed several times to repair the road but there is no certainty. "We have also communicated this with the relevant agencies, then the information verbally from the provincial government will budget for the road repairs to this revised budget," he said. He continued, with the current condition of the East Kotim Transportation Agency, it cannot completely prohibit heavy vehicles from passing. However, he hopes that all parties understand each other and follow the rules. If heavy vehicles, especially cargo prohibited from crossing, it can have an impact on the economy in Kotim and even have the potential to cause inflation, especially if the cargo transported is in the form of logistics. "Let's just pray that the provincial government can immediately budget for repairs to the South Ring Road, so that the road can be functional and capacity is increased. That way we can fully regulate heavy vehicles entering the city,” according to Rody.

However, the East Kotim Transportation Agency has not set a definite hour to prohibit heavy vehicles from entering the city. Meanwhile, his party conducts regular patrols during peak hours, such as during school entry and return hours, as well as during working hours. Meanwhile, in 2022, the East Kotim Transportation Agency has also imposed similar rules. Vehicle restrictions entering the city are enforced at 06:00 a.m. -men's WIB andassembly - 13:00 p.m. local time.