I thought there was a continuation of the planned 29-kilometer bridge. The plan was formulated in the Yudhoyono government'€™s Master plan for the Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesian Economic Development (MP3EI). I agree with the cancellation because the reason is that the project will spend too much state resources for the benefits of a few business persons, not for the Indonesian people.

Aki Kurnia Pohan
Balikpapan

Our President is absolutely right to cancel the Sunda Strait bridge project. Let'€™s hope and pray that the allocated funds will be redirected to maritime axis developments, including ocean-energy power-generation projects.

Malik
Jakarta

It'€™s much better to have more ferry ships, which you can handle much easier if there'€™s something wrong with the Anak Krakatoa volcano.

E. Nurdin
Jakarta

What about constructing a Java-Bali bridge, a Bali-Lombok bridge and beyond, instead?

Hadi
Surabaya.

It is a wise and sensible decision given the serious doubts about the geophysical conditions and the country'€™s maintenance capacity. Instead of developing projects for the sake of the status and illegitimate legacy of a president, the country needs to use hard-core financial-economic criteria to determine infrastructural investments.

Looking at the current effectiveness and efficiency of the Merak-Bakauheni crossing, there is still a lot to learn. I can recommend the government to use the experience of the highly effective Dover-Calais (UK-Fr) crossing where every day thousands vehicles are being transferred.

John
Jakarta

 We desperately need new infrastructure. However, it doesn'€™t make sense to spend that much money on the bridge when highway and rail infrastructure in Sumatra is non-existent.

If the economy is as sound as some people have stated then there shouldn'€™t be any problem in moving forward with the project entirely with private funding. As long as the government doesn'€™t have to take out a loan for this bridge, I'€™m all for it.

Bang Koja

I agree with the government. In the first place the proposers of this project did not care at all for the very deep hole of debt this project would mean for Indonesia!

Pauloh

Poor are the people who only work to try to keep up an expensive lifestyle and build expensive homes to show the world how rich they are.

Fussion B.

I sincerely hope that Bapak Andrinof, the national development planning minister, reads this message.

There have been a number of local Indonesian and international groups that have carried out extensive surveys and proposals for this major problem area.

All these surveys and proposals have been thrown in the rubbish bin owing to the fact that currently there are some 28 roll-on/roll-off (RORO) ships available for the Merak-Bakauheni route and the vested interests are considerable for the owners and for state-owned seaport operator PT ASDP.

Indonesia'€™s closest neighbor, Australia, is one of the world'€™s largest builders, suppliers and operators of modern high-speed RORO passenger ships. These ships are operating in every corner of the world, and operating very successfully; they are profitable and provide the consumer with reliable safe service.

L Bule

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