REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BANDAR LAMPUNG -- Contractor has complained about slow process in land clearing for the Trans Sumatra toll road project in Lampung.

"Of the total length of 41.56 kilometers we are to build, only 5 kilometers of the land have been cleared and 3.2 kilometers of which have been completed," Marsudi, project leader of Waskita Karya, the contractor, said.

Progress in the work could be slowed if the government could not accelerated the process of land clearing, Marsudi said when he was at the village of Sabahbalau , Lampung Selatan, said on Wednesday.

He said he feared the heavy equipment of the company would lie idle with no work to do.

He said if the weather is favorable construction of the remaining part of the 5 kilometers already cleared would be finished soon.

The Trans Sumatra toll road is designed to be able to sustain big truck with loads up to 90 tons.

Based on previously set target, by December, 2015, land clearing would be completed for at least 10 kilometers of the part to be built by Waskita Karya, but until mid January, land clearing covered only 5 kilometers.

The toll road would consist of two tracks in opposite directions each having two-9.2 meter lanes with a median of 2.25 meters separating the two tracks.

The project was launched by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) in April last year in a ceremony at the village of Sabahbalau.

The 400 kilometer part of the toll road through Bakauheni- Terbanggi Besar- Palembang of South Sumatra is to be completed in June 2018 before Asian Games that year to held in Palembang and Jakarta.

The contractors for the part of Bakauheni-Terbanggi Besar are PT Pembangunan Perumahan (PP), Waskita Karya, Adhi Karya and Wijaya Karya (Wika)- all state construction comnpanies. However, only PP and Waskita Karya already start work. Adhi Karya and Wika have yet to wait for the progress made in land clearing.

Public Works and Housing Minister Basuki Hadimulyono repeated saying that land clearing for the Bakauheni-Terbanggi Besar section - 140 kilometer long - would be completed in 2016.

Trans Sumatra toll road that would link the northern tip and southern end of Sumatra is one of the mega projects of the government of President Jokowi, implemented after years of delay since previous governments.

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