The South Jakarta neighborhood of Kemang has long been a favorite among expats and well-to-do yuppies thanks to its plethora of F&B, lifestyle and nightlife hotspots. But Kemang has seen better days — in recent years, large swathes of its main drag were kicked out by the military retaking land they had rented out for decades (which didn’t even do anything to improve the awful traffic the swells up along Kemang Raya most nights).
But at a meeting with Kemang residents yesterday, representatives of the South Jakarta government promised to revitalize the commercial hub by making much needed improvements to the neighborhood’s infrastructure.
South Jakarta Mayor Marullah Matali said he wanted to make repairs and improvements to all of Kemang’s sidewalks as a starting point for meeting other strategic goals of making the neighborhood much more pedestrian and handicapped accessible.
“The arrangement of the sidewalks is aimed at improving convenience for pedestrians and those with disabilities in carrying out their activities. Because at the moment Kemang’s accessibility for pedestrians is still minimal” Marullah said yesterday at a meeting with 186 Kemang residents as quoted by BeritaJakarta.
The head of the Jakarta Highways Agency, Hari Nugroho, was also at the meeting and said that, in addition to improving the sidewalks, authorities would also make improvements to bicycle lanes and access to public transportation.
With officials and residents at the meeting agreeing to the plans at yesterday’s meeting, we’ll now have to wait to see if the South Jakarta Government follows up with concrete plans regarding the new pavement and what streets in Kemang will be affected.
We’d love to imagine the day we could stroll down Kemang Raya comfortably with our friends, hopping from hip new restaurant to hip new bar, as opposed to the slow moving traffic dodging currently required to navigate the neighborhood’s main drag. Obviously the Jakarta government doesn’t have the greatest record on this stuff, but they have redone the sidewalks in many areas of South Jakarta already (especially along the MRT tracks) so maybe Kemang’s streets will finally get the love they deserve too.
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