The office of the state minister for state enterprises is setting up a new state company to oversee the country's longest bridge, the Surabaya-Madura (Suramadu) bridge in East Java, set to open on June 10.
"We have held the fit and proper test for director candidates of the new company," State Minister for State Enterprises Sofyan Djalil told journalists Thursday.
Sofyan refused to comment further about the candidates, only saying that they would be officials from one of state ministries.
According to Sofyan the establishment of the new state company, which will also manage the surrounding area to the bridge, will be set out in the draft of a new government regulation.
The 5,438-meter Suramadu bridge and toll road, connecting Madura Island and the East Java capital of Surabaya, will be the longest bridge in the country. The construction started five years ago.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is scheduled to open the Rp 4.5 trillion (US$428 million) road project that involved at least 3,500 workers from Indonesia and China.
The completed bridge will shorten the traffic time between Surabaya and Madura to about ten minutes, from about 30 minutes by (usually crowded) ferry transportation. The bridge will become a modern icon for the East Java province, with two wide lanes in each direction, plus a lane dedicated for motorcycles.
"We will gain long term benefits from this bridge project. Thus, we have to take care of this infrastructure so that it will last for hundreds of years," he added.
Deputy minister of infrastructure for the Coordinating Minister for the Economy Bambang Susantono said the new SOE would act as an advisory board," Bambang said.
He said for the first 18 months, the operator of Suramadu toll road would be the Indonesian Toll Road Regulator (BPJT), to provide the government enough time to seek investors to bid for contracts to operate and maintain the bridge and collect the tollroad fees.
"Local and foreign investors can join these bids. We will choose among those that will bring more benefit to the country," he said.
The government expects the finished bridge will boost the economy of less developed Madura Island.
The government plans to develop a 1,800-hectare area around the Suramadu bridge into an economic development area, 600 hectares of which will be set as a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) whilst Madura Island is planned to become a center for the cattle industry. (naf)
