THE crippling floods in the city should be controlled by the end of 2012. Land purchase problems had hampered the building of the city's new 5.2 trillion rupiah (S$780 million) East Flood Canal, but Governor Fauzi Bowo said that land acquisition had now reached 80 per cent. Mr Bowo, a trained engineer, also said that the low-lying city needed to secure a loan of 1.2 trillion rupiah to help pay for maintenance on the existing West Flood Canal.

JAKARTA is now considering a congestion charge such as that used in Singapore or London. A 'three-in-one' scheme in the city centre, which now restricts use of the fast lanes to those cars carrying three or more people, was failing, according to the governor. A rapid bus system on designated lanes would be expanded to 10 routes from seven now.

The government also plans to start on the construction of a subway next year, with the first phase of the project targeted for completion in 2014, and the city authorities are considering taking over a private monorail project.