P

apua province is set to build a 41-kilometer road connecting Jayapura with Sentani.

The project has been launched to anticipate a population boom in Jayapura city, whose growth reaches 5 percent annually.

Jayapura city is currently inhabited by 350,000 people and the number is expected to rise to 450,000 by 2020.

"Population density is followed by traffic congestion," Papua Governor Barnabas Suebu told reporters in Jayapura. "The ring road will shorten traveling time from Jayapura city to the Sentani Airport from between 45 and 60 minutes to 10 minutes."

The first phase of the construction will be a 3.5-kilometer section from Hamadi to Skyland at an estimated Rp 500 billion (US$50 million) cost from a total of Rp 7 trillion.

"The tender process is ongoing and the construction will com-mence this year," Papua Public Works Office chief Jansen Monim told The Jakarta Post in Jayapura.

Monim said the Rp 7 trillion funds would be derived from the provincial and state budgets. The project is expected to be completed in three years' time.

"The project will be carried out by Indonesians, such as the Jakarta-Bandung turnpike," he said.

The project has drawn both support and criticism. The Indonesian National Youth Committee (KNPI) Papua chapter welcomed the project as solution to Jayapura's development problem.

"The ring road will help ease traffic congestion in Jayapura city," KNPI chief Rifai Darus said.

Students associated with The Indonesian Youth and Students Movement have different views.

"We don't see the urgency to build the road while some people are living in poverty in the middle of the city," movement coordinator Yulianus Dwaa said.