T

he government is pushing ahead with the long-awaited Trans-Sumatra highway project, expecting to begin construction in September this year.

Coordinating Economic Minister Chairul Tanjung said on Wednesday that a meeting including the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry, Public Works Ministry and the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas), had decided the construction of the toll road should start before the next government takes over in October.

'€œWe have agreed that we can begin construction on the first four segments of the toll road project this year. If possible, the groundbreaking will be held in September,'€ Chairul told a press conference.

He said that the first four segments that would be constructed this year were the Medan-Binjai (North Sumatra), Pekanbaru-Dumai (Riau), Bakauheni-Bandar Lampung (Lampung) and Palembang-Indralaya (South Sumatra).

The 2,700-kilometer toll road project will stretch from Aceh to Lampung in 24 sections connecting major cities in Sumatra. In order to construct the entire toll road, the government needs to acquire 218,976 million square meters of land.

Chairul said that the government was still waiting for a presidential decree providing the legal basis to build the road, which will be constructed by state-owned enterprises not private investors.

He said the appointment of state-owned contracting company PT Hutama Karya had not been finalized, and that the construction for its initial stages of the toll road would be financed through the state investment agency (PIP).

'€œThe project is deemed not financially feasible, therefore we will task a state-owned construction company to do the job,'€ State-Owned Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting.

Dahlan said that the presidential decree was expected to be issued next week, and that the a team tasked by the coordinating minister was still reviewing which state-owned companies would be involved in the construction of the Trans-Sumatra highway.

Deputy for infrastructure at Bappenas, Dedy S. Priatna, revealed that the total investment for the four sections would reach around Rp 47 trillion (US$3.92 billion).

Last week, the Chairul'€™s office moved to fast-track 15 priority infrastructure projects for groundbreaking or completion this year.

Among those are the Rp 14.9 trillion Cilamaya Port in West Java, the Rp 8.29 trillion Kertajati Airport in West Java, the expansion of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Banten and the completion of the Rp 4 trillion Jatigede Dam in Sumedang, West Java.

The dam, which is now 87 percent complete, would still need to raise around $55 million in funds to be finished.

'€œThe physical construction is almost finished. We need the funds to relocate people living in the project area,'€ Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto said.