C

onstruction of the Pejagan-Pemalang toll road in Central Java officially kicked off on Wednesday, marking the first step for the government to begin the Trans-Java toll road project that will link the western and eastern ends of Java.

'€œThis groundbreaking ceremony shows that we are now one step closer to realizing the Trans-Java toll road project, one of the country'€™s land transportation solutions to support logistics flow,'€ said Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto during his opening speech.

The minister said that the toll road was expected to ease the burden on Java'€™s northern coastal road, Pantura, which had long been the island'€™s transportation backbone, and which channeled goods equivalent to almost 50 percent of the nation'€™s economy.

Djoko said that the highway would consist of four parts: the 14.2-kilometer Pejagan-West Brebes section, the 6-km West Brebes'€“East Brebes section, the 10.4-km East Brebes'€“East Tegal section and the 29.6-km East Tegal-Pemalang section.

According to Djoko, the government had acquired 96.31 percent of the land needed to construct the first section, and 95.75 percent of land needed for the second section.

He said that the government was expected to complete the land acquisition of the first two sections by the third quarter of this year and the construction was expected to be completed by the end of next year.

As for the third and fourth sections, Djoko said that the land-acquisition process would begin sometime soon.

Total investment in the project is earmarked at Rp 4.08 trillion (US$354.5 million), which will be partly financed by PT Bank Exim Indonesia.

The toll road operator, Pejagan Pemalang Toll Road (PPTR), which has recently been acquired by state-owned construction firm PT Waskita Karya, will carry out the construction of the highway.

Through its subsidiary, Waskita Toll Road, the firm has acquired PPTR from Rekatunggal Abadi and Global Selaras Dunia, both of which were subsidiaries of PT MNC Infrastruktur Utama.

MNC acquired PPTR in December 2012 from Bakrie Toll Road, a subsidiary of the Bakrie Group.

Waskita Karya president director M Choliq said that the firm was expecting to see a total of 17,000 vehicles per day when the first two sections began operations. The company has secured a concession period of 30 years to operate the road.

'€œWe hope the number of vehicles passing along the highway will surpass our target because this toll road will simultaneously begin its operations along with the Cikampek-Palimanan toll road,'€ he said.

'€œTherefore, people traveling from Jakarta can directly reach Pemalang using the toll road network,'€
Choliq said on the sidelines of the ceremony.

Cikampek-Palimanan or the Cipali toll road in West Java, opened in December 2011 and is part of the Trans-Java toll road network.

Cipali toll road, constructed by infrastructure firm PT Lintas Marga Sedaya, has been divided into six sections: Cikopo-Kalijati (29.12 km), Kalijati-Subang (9.56 km), Subang-Cikedung (31.37 km), Cikedung-Kertajati (17.66 km), Kertajati-Sumberjaya (14.51 km) and Sumberjaya-Palimanan (13.78 km).