REPUBLIKA.CO.ID,JAKARTA -- A year after assuming office, Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo, better known as Jokowi, on Tuesday (15/10) likened the capital city`s problems to mountains.

"The problems are (like) mountains. How could I have solved them all when I was just a year in the office?" said the governor, known for conducting inspections in neighborhoods in the city, at City Hall.

The implementation of some of his programs has met his expectations, Jokowi said. He cited the distribution of Jakarta Smart Cards to help finance education of students in the city, the issuing of Jakarta Health Cards to residents for funding healthcare costs, as well as dredging of rivers and dams as examples. He said it was for the public to assess his performance. "If you wish to evaluate my performance over the past year, please, it is up to you. Also, ask people how the service at village and sub-district administration offices is now. Has there been an improvement or not in Tanah Abang, Pasar Minggu, Palmerah and other market places," he said.

He said the work of development and improvement in the city has to be done in stages. "There is still a lot of homework to do, especially when it comes to traffic and flood-related problems," he said.

In order to ease traffic congestion, additional means of mass transport are required, the governor said. "We have just started increasing them," he said, adding steps towards augmenting means of mass transport should have been taken 20 years ago. "We have just started constructing the Mass Rapid Transit System now and this will take five to six years to finish. (Work on) the monorail system, meanwhile, would begin soon and the project would finish in about 3.5 years. All this will take time," he said.

Next year, procurement of public transports and development of public flats will be a priority for the provincial government, he said. "Next year, we will prioritize procuring 4,000 buses - 3,000 mid-sized buses and 1,000 buses - for the Transjakarta system. We will also build 200 blocks of public apartments at a number of locations in Jakarta. But the plan has not yet been approved by the legislative assembly. This is our proposal. In 2014, it is hoped the Electric Road Pricing System would be implemented," he said.

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