The Number Of Homecomers For Eid 2023 Is Predicted To Soar 45 Percent, Jokowi: God Willing, There Will Be No Problem

President Joko Widodo visited the Palsigunung Monument Market, Cimanggis District, Depok City (SETNEG)

JAKARTA - The number of travelers in Lebaran this year is predicted to increase 45 percent compared to last year. However, President Joko Widodo hopes that no problems will occur because the government has prepared a number of anticipations.

"We have arranged all of this. God willing, hopefully there will be no problems. Including those on toll roads. We checked everything yesterday. Hopefully, God willing, there will be no problems," said Jokowi after checking the prices of basic commodities at Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, Thursday, April 13.

Jokowi said that he had checked the readiness of the departure and return facilities for travelers at Bakauheni Port and Merak Port. Access to this port had experienced severe congestion during the 2022 homecoming season.

"Yesterday I checked that last year there was a problem in Bakauheni, in Merak, it was problematic that year at the port. We checked that. Obviously we prepared it from the capacity of the previous 31 thousand (vehicles) jumping to 49 thousand. We hope there are no problems," said Jokowi.

In addition, Jokowi claims that the government has also prepared field management to anticipate that long traffic jams on vehicles entering ports will no longer occur.

"Which ports are used for heavy vehicles, which ports are used for private cars and buses, everything has been arranged in different ports. We hope it doesn't happen like last year," he said.

Previously, Jokowi revealed that the number of travelers was estimated to have jumped 45 percent to 123 million people in 2023, compared to 86 million people in 2022.

"I remind everyone who wants to go home, be careful, there is a big jump, the number of people going home from 86 million, from the survey to 123 million. This means that there is an increase of approximately 45 percent," said Jokowi, Tuesday, April 11.

At last year's Lebaran homecoming, Jokowi reminded that there was a traffic density problem at the access to Jalan Cikuasa Bawah and Cikuasa Atas to Merak Port, as well as a lack of ship capacity.

"But this year's Eid, this year's homecoming flow, we hope that all of that will not happen again," said President Jokowi.

The former governor of DKI Jakarta also appealed to all passengers who want to cross through the port to order tickets electronically.

"Because last year it was very disturbing who did not hold the ticket, everyone had to hold the ticket before entering Merak Harbor," he said.