A YOUNG woman, carrying her infant son in a sling around her neck, stands in the shadows of a decaying concrete pylon, her hand extended in the hope that a passing motorist will pick her up.

Maya Sari, 23, and her one-year-old son Muhammad are ''jockeys''. Jakarta motorists pay to carry them in peak-hour traffic because, to legally travel on the city's best roads, cars need three occupants. Babies count, and they cost less to hire than an adult, so on feeder roads all over the city, women with their children stand touting for business. One ride with them costs the driver about 20,000 rupiah, or $2.15.

As Jakarta's population grows wealthier, 565 new cars and 3006 new motorbikes use its roads every day. According to one official report, this city with a daytime population of 11 million is nine years away from gridlock. When it rains and the roads flood, many areas are already there.

It's the most obvious of Indonesia's profound infrastructure problems which, according to economist Dr Chatib Basri, are cramping the growth rate of south-east Asia's largest economy. It should be growing at 9 per cent, like China and India. Instead the growth rate is 6.5 per cent.