The residents in Durban will recognise this complaint from Indonesia, many Durban locals complained about the misery caused during construction of the street circuit every year prior to A1GP arriving, during the race week, and during the deconstruction.

Street circuits are very popular but not with the locals who live, or work, nearby.

Resident of Lippo Village Central

“Lippo Karawaci Village’s ambition to host an A1GP street race has caused misery for residents.

The facilities that were built in pursuit of a racing circuit (which ultimately failed to meet A1 requirements*) have caused chaos and resulted in long traffic jams and damaged roads.

Our peaceful and safe environment has also been disrupted as traffic has been directed into the housing clusters, allowing public transport vehicles such as buses and trucks to enter private residential areas. The internal public transportation system has stopped operating and the beauty of the local environment has been ruined.

During the first event at the circuit, which took place Feb. 6-8, we were all trapped in an unbearable traffic jam. Even our church had to change its schedule. The situation was made worse by irresponsible traffic officers who allowed some cars to jump the queues.

But what is more frustrating is that these conditions may continue for the rest of the year as Lippo Village plans to hold more events each month until the A1GP can finally (hopefully) take place in
November.

I regret Lippo Village’s arrogance in building such facilities for the sake of “national pride,” as stated in a Jakarta Globe editorial (“Nation Building Through Sports,” Feb. 9), while neglecting its residents’ interests. Lippo Village should have consulted its residents before constructing facilities that have given no direct benefit but have had such a huge impact on the lives of so many people who have contributed a considerable amount of money to live in Lippo Village.

For this reason, I strongly urge the Lippo Village management to be more considerate and put its residents’ needs first by bringing the chaos caused by the construction of the street circuit to an immediate end.”

[source: thejakartaglobe.com]

(*actually it was the FiA that wasn’t happy with the progress of circuit in the time allowed)