Protests On Damaged Roads, Residents Of Bulukumba, South Sulawesi Plant Banana Trees On The Streets

Illustration. Roads in Bulukumba Regency, South Sulawesi are planted with trees as a protest against damaged roads that have not been repaired. BETWEEN Photos/Doc. Residents

Residents of Polewali Village, Gantarang District, Bulukumba Regency, South Sulawesi staged a protest by planting banana trees on damaged roads.

A number of roads in Polewali Village, Gantarang District, Bulukumba Regency were damaged, ranging from minor to severe damage.

In addition to road quality, weather factors, are also one of the causes of damage to other roads, namely heavy tonnage activities that are not suitable or exceed the capacity of the roads that are traversed.

A resident named Iksan (25) said the road damage was allegedly due to the overload of vehicles that often passed. As a result, the drainage on the side of the road was not strong enough to withstand the load and eventually collapsed.

"The activities of container trucks exceed the capacity so that the load will result in drainage and slowly collapse," he said, quoted by ANTARA, Saturday, May 6.

Iksan confirmed that one of the causes of road damage that had occurred so far was due to excessive truck activity.

"Each road has a maximum burden. If those who pass beyond the burden, of course, the road will collapse. The maximum load is eight tons. If the passing truck exceeds the load, of course the road will be damaged. Especially if it passes it is not just one or two times," he explained.

According to Iksan, no matter how good the road is, if the pass exceeds the capacity or strength of the road, it will be damaged quickly.

The surrounding community also questioned the commitment of members of the Bulukumba Regency DPRD, especially from the Gantarang Kindang electoral district who were deemed unable to fight for the damaged roads and were proposed annually in the Village Development Plan Conference.

Until now, it has not been clear for sure when this road will be repaired, while Polewali Village is one of the villages that supports the economy of urban communities. Moreover, the location of the road is considered to be fairly close to a densely populated area of activity.

"Every day many people pass here with different professional backgrounds, so it is very unfortunate that their daily activities are not supported by inadequate road access," said Ramli Kelli, one of the local residents.