W

ith many meetings held by Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto, Cabinet Secretary Dipo Alam, State Secretary Sudi Silalahi, Industry Minister MS Hidayat, Law and Human Rights Minister Amir Syamsudin and National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) head Armida Alisjahbana, I wonder why they have reached an impasse now.

It is of course a brilliant idea having this bridge built judging from the importance of elevating the economies of Java and Sumatra in general and the provinces of Lampung and Banten in particular. Squabbling over plans to build this bridge in endless meetings is a waste of money and time.

My question is this: has a thorough survey been carried out to study the extremely strong currents plaguing the Sunda Strait? This takes years and years of thorough investigation and is a very important aspect, which should not be overlooked.

What about the years of long studies with regard to registering the many strong earthquakes caused by Krakatau, as its location is not so far from the spot where this bridge is supposed to be built?

Bear in mind that Krakatau is globally known to be a very active volcano and its gigantic eruption in 1883 destroyed sultanates in Lampung as well as Banten, along with destroying important thriving trade harbors in both regions and practically eliminating populations.

Spending trillions of rupiah to build this bridge and then see it collapse after a few years is a waste of precious funds. The Japanese are the only experts who could build such a bridge. They are also on an island nation regularly plagued by volcanic and tectonic earthquakes and they have also experienced tsunamis.

They still have to deal with the after effects of the last tsunami, which destroyed a nuclear reactor, many cities and killed many people in the region. The Japanese are still carrying out thorough investigations into registering the strength of strong currents in deep trenches surrounding their islands.

The collapse of the Kutai Bridge is still fresh in my mind. Kalimantan is practically free from earthquakes and tsunamis, yet the pride of Kutai was dragged down by extremely strong currents that caused havoc in the mighty Mahakam River. Think twice Indonesia, before even attempting to build a bridge across the Sunda Strait.

Lynna van der Zee-Oehmke
Bogor, West Java