T

he suspended construction of nine sections of toll roads and the damaged infrastructure in Porong, Sidoarjo, in East Java have hindered economic development in the province, says Governor Soekarwo.

Reporting on the province's economic and sociopolitical conditions to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono during the inauguration of 114,000 units of healthy simple houses in Lamongan, on Tuesday, Soekarwo said the province's growth rate was expected to fall below 5 percent this year.

The governor attributed the gloomy estimate to various factors, including the global economic downturn, damaged infrastructure in Porong and the suspended development of new infrastructure, including the nine sections of toll roads.

He explained two major problems holding back the toll road projects were the soaring prices of land and construction materials, which had made developers reluctant to continue the projects.

The President asked Soekarwo and vice governor Saifullah Yusuf to work harder and be proactive in wiping out corruption, to improve the people's social welfare in spite of the downturn.

"Have the infrastructure projects revised and reassessed, dump the corruption far out to sea. and work harder. The damaged infrastructure in Porong, Sidoarjo, must be repaired and partly relocated. The immediate completion of the toll road and south coast highway project is needed to allow the province's economy to grow rapidly.

"If the province, which is one of the national economy's buffer zones for basic commodities and national economic engines, can't catch up with national economic growth, all sides will understand and we can do more in the coming years," Yudhoyono said, adding the governor should also pay attention to the Surabaya-Madura Bridge project, which is nearing a completion deadline.

Out of 10 sections of toll roads, with a total length of 516 kilometers and total cost of Rp 3.95 trillion (US$3.1 billion), only the 13.6-kilometer Juanda-Waru section has been completed.

Choirul Djaelani, assistant to the secretary of the provincial administration on economic affairs, said the toll roads were expected to be arteries for industrial areas in Surabaya, Sidoarjo, Pasuruan, Malang, Mojokerto, Jombang and Probolinggo, and for the transportation of goods between Central Java, Bali and West Nusa Tenggara.

Nine sections of toll roads suspended: