T

he government has shaken nearly 20 years of dust off a project for a toll road connecting Bekasi on the outskirts of Jakarta to the capital, with construction being resumed on Friday.

The 21.04-kilometer toll road, which is costing Rp 7.2 trillion (US$595 million), will be operated by PT Kresna Kusuma Dyandra Marga (KKDM), a consortium of construction companies with state-run Waskita Karya holding the largest share of 60 percent through its subsidiary Waskita Toll Road.

Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto said during his opening speech that the government had shown its support for the construction by providing Rp 350 billion in state funds to acquire land needed for the project.

'As part of the toll road network in greater Jakarta, this toll road will play an important role in easing traffic as well as the flow of goods between Bekasi and Jakarta,' Djoko said.

Over the last week, Bekasi has come in for criticism on social media by netizens residing in greater Jakarta, who have complained about the city's poorly managed infrastructure, with some sharing Internet memes ridiculing the hardships faced by Bekasi residents.

Meanwhile, the ministry's Bina Marga director-general Djoko Murjanto said that the toll road was intended to increase the percentage of road area in the capital, which currently stands at around 5 percent. With an area of 661 square kilometers, the city should have a maximum of 20 percent of its total area covered by roads, he said.

The construction project was started in 1995 by KKDM.

The project, which locals call the Becakayu toll road, a contraction of the Bekasi, Cawang and Kampung Melayu areas involved, was discontinued during the Asian financial crisis in the late 90s, with half-built concrete columns abandoned along the route.

• Asian financial crisis necessitated hiatus
• Long-abandoned concrete columns will be checked to ensure safety
• Waskita may reroute some sections because of land acquisition difficulties