Indonesia's economic transformation held back by weak infrastructure

JAKARTA (AP) - Months behind schedule, the construction crew racing to finish a highway encircling Indonesia's traffic-choked capital is being blocked by a determined group of locals and the ramshackle cemetery that is home to their ancestors.

Talks on a new location have yet to reach an agreement accepted by all the relatives of the some 500 people buried there. That has not stopped authorities digging a new cemetery a short distance from the old one - pointlessly according to Mr Yaman, the neighborhood chief.

"There is no way we can agree to that," said Mr Yaman, pointing to workers hacking through the thick red earth amid a mid-afternoon rain shower. "It will be too noisy. How are we supposed to pray for our ancestors there?"

Indonesia's economy is booming. But to sustain and deepen its growth, it badly needs new roads, bridges, power stations and ports.