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Jokowi wants faster Bogor-Sukabumi toll road construction
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President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo inspects a section of a toll road construction project in Gadog village, Bogor, on Tuesday. (thejakartapost.com/Ayomi Amindoni)
P
resident Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has demanded the developer of a toll road connecting the three West Java cities of Bogor, Ciawi and Sukabumi to speed up construction to help facilitate access from Jakarta to its neighbors.
The project was taken over by state-owned developer PT Waskita Karya’s subsidiary, Trans Jabar Tol, from private investors because the project that was initiated in 1997 stagnated, even though the private developers conducted four separate groundbreaking ceremonies.
The 54-kilometer toll road project worth Rp 7.7 trillion (US$580.04 million) consists of four sections.
"So we will proceed with the project. The first section has already begun. Ninety-five percent of the land has been acquired for it and we will continue acquiring land for the remaining three sections. Waskita plans to finish the whole project in 2019, but I hope it will be finished in 2018," Jokowi said at the project site in Gadog village, Bogor, on Tuesday.
The 15.3-kilometer first section of the toll road will connect Ciawi and Sukabumi. Work for this section has been divided into three packages and they are 18.7 percent, 12 percent and 6.3 percent complete.
Trans Jabar Tol president director Muhammad Sadali said the whole toll road would speed up travel from Jakarta to Sukabumi, which now takes three to four hours, to only an hour. "So it will be a safe three-hour trip to reach Jakarta from Sukabumi and vice versa," Sadali said.
“The first section is supposed to be open by the end of 2017. For this section alone, the construction cost is Rp 1.8 trillion," he explained, adding that the remaining sections are currently in the land acquisition stage.
During his visit, Jokowi was accompanied by State-Owned Enterprises Minister Rini Soemarno and Public Works and Public Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono.(bbn)
