An official from the public works ministry has announced that Seoul is investing Rp 11 million in an underwater road tunnel connecting Nusantara and Balikpapan, a 88.54 kilometer project of which 76.4 percent has been completed to date.
he government is teaming up with South Korea to build an underwater toll road for Nusantara, which is estimated to cost some US$690 million and will be the country’s first, an infrastructure director at the Public Works and Housing Ministry has announced.
“The estimated cost to finish the immersed tunnel is around Rp 11 trillion,” Wida Nurfaida said on Wednesday at the Indonesia-Korea Technical Exchange Seminar & Business Networking 2024, as quoted by Tempo.co. “The plan is to partner with the South Korean government.”
Wida added that the planned toll road network project for accessing the country’s new capital would span 88.54 kilometers, Kompas.com reported. Of this total length, 67.65 km had been built at an average cost of Rp 305 billion per kilometer, leaving around 20.89 km to be built for an investment cost of Rp 6.38 trillion.
The tunnel is part of a 47-kilometer highway connecting Nusantara and Balikpapan’s Sepinggan International Airport.
Commonly used for undersea roads and railways, immersed tunnels are typically built in segments on land and then are sealed and floated into position, where they are submerged and assembled.
Danis Hidayat Sumadilaga, head of the ministry’s Nusantara infrastructure development task force, said in August last year that construction on the underwater toll road would commence this year.
“We’ve just completed the feasibility study. Based on the results of that study, we will create a design. Insyaallah [God willing], next year we can begin [building it],” Danis said on Aug. 23, as quote by Tempo.co.
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