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President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered six governors on Thursday to get a handle on traffic in their major cities because it was causing people time and money.

“Traffic congestion in big cities is a serious problem,” Yudhoyono said at the opening of a cabinet meeting at the Presidential Office.

“If we pay attention to Twitter, Facebook, mobile text messages, radio, talk shows and even chats in coffee shops, people almost invariably talk about traffic jams in Jakarta.

“I’m certain this is also the case in other cities.”

The governors of Bali, East Java, Jakarta, North Sumatra, South Sulawesi and West Java were summoned to the capital to brief the president and the cabinet on their respective plans to address traffic congestion in their large cities.

“If conditions stay the same, without any improvements, or deteriorate, it will inconvenience people and road users,” Yudhoyono said.

Traffic jams, he said, also add to transportation costs as more fuel is used. The president added that the environment also suffers as more pollution is produced.

“These conditions can influence the efficiency of our businesses,” he said.

A study by the Presidential Working Unit for Development, Supervision and Oversight (UKP4) said Jakarta alone was losing around Rp 13 trillion ($1.5 billion) each year as a result of traffic congestion.

Other studies, however, put the losses much higher, with the World Bank estimating they reach as much as Rp 43 trillion a year.

Medan in North Sumatra, Jakarta, Bandung in West Java, Surabaya in East Java, Denpasar in Bali and Makassar in South Sulawesi were singled out by the president as increasingly suffering from serious traffic problems, including chronic congestion.

Yudhoyono acknowledged, however, that finding a solution would be difficult.

“It is not easy to increase the road network, as even when the space is available, we still need to seek the necessary funding,” he said. “It is expensive.”

He also said that appropriating privately owned land for infrastructure projects was not easy.

While cities across the country have provided public transportation alternatives such as the train and busway, Yudhoyono said, it was not easy to get people to leave their cars at home because these public options were still often unreliable and uncomfortable.

“Don’t let people begin to feel like there are no solution to the worsening conditions,” Yudhoyono said.

It is important, he said, to provide the public with the hope that the government, along with its partners, will be able to overcome the traffic problems affecting their cities.

He said the central government would provide support for regional efforts to curb traffic congestion.

“The central government wants assurances that there will be solutions, options and actions, and we will then give our support to help implement the solutions they have chosen,” he said.

Experts have said big cities in Indonesia are suffering from a lack of infrastructure, including roads and public transportation. Rapid growth in personal vehicle ownership is also outpacing the development of new road networks, leading to serious traffic congestion.

Environment Minister Gusti Muhammad Hatta has said that curbing traffic jams is necessary to significantly lower air pollution levels in the country’s major urban centers.