REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, AKARTA - Minister of Public Works Djoko Kirmanto said the government would launch the groundbreaking of the Trans-Sumatra Toll Road projects before the end of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's tenure in October this year.

"Construction of two sections of the Trans-Sumatra Toll Road project is expected to commence during the tenure of the current cabinet at the end of September or early October," Djoko Kirmanto said recently.

The Trans-Sumatra toll road project was expected to start earlier in December, 2013, and scheduled for completion by 2025. However, the government has been facing some constraints, including land clearance, in carrying out the project. Therefore, Minister Kirmanto said, the Yudhoyono government, which had committed to develop the toll road projects in Sumatra, would commence the construction of the two sections first.

The two sections that have become the focus of the present government cover the 16.8-km Medan-Binjai section in North Sumatra and the 22-km Palembang-Indralaya section in South Sumatra. Although the government still faces land clearance problems in the construction of the two sections, Minister Kirmanto is convinced that the government in the remaining two months of its tenure will be able to solve the problem.

The 2,771-km Trans-Sumatra Toll Roads, which will cross provinces across Sumatra, from Aceh in the west to Lampung in the east, consists of 23 toll road sections. With an estimated construction cost of 200 trillion IDR, the project is expected to be included in the map of the ASEAN Highway Network and is expected to be completed by 2025.

Ikuti Whatsapp Channel Republika