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Jakarta-Surabaya toll roads open for use by holiday travelers
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A vehicle passes along the Surakarta-Kertosono toll road, which will open to the public on June 8. (JP/Ganug Nugroho Adi)
H
olidaymakers are likely to be able to drive more smoothly from Jakarta to Surabaya ahead of the Christmas and New Year's Eve holidays because nearly 800 kilometers of toll roads connecting the two cities are ready to be used.
The director general of land road transportation for the Transportation Ministry, Budi Setiyadi, said on Tuesday that the four remaining toll roads had been completed.
“The Pemalang-Batang toll road, the Batang-Semarang toll road, the Boyolali-Kartosuro toll road and the Wilangan-Kertosono toll road are ready for operation,” he said as reported by komtan.co.id, adding that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo would officially open them on Thursday.
Previously, the fee for using the Jakarta-Surabaya toll road was reportedly to be more than Rp 600,000 (US$41.70) per trip.
“It means the Jakarta-Surabaya toll roads could be used for Christmas and New Year's Eve transportation. They are ready to be used by the travelers.”
To monitor the traffic, the Transportation Ministry is to involve the Public Works and Housing Ministry, the National Police and toll road operator PT Jasa Marga.
Budi said that in addition to the toll road, the government had also prepared non-toll roads as alternatives for holiday travelers if traffic jams or any accidents occurred along the toll roads.
“We have coordinated with the National Police’s traffic division because it is the National Police that will place officers to monitor the traffic,” Budi added.
Meanwhile, for travelers who prefer to use public transportation, particularly buses, the Transportation Ministry had conducted ramp inspections on 27,332 buses, 21,228 of which were declared roadworthy.
The ministry said the operators whose buses did not pass the ramp inspection were advised to do repairs on their buses before the ministry carries out another ramp check. (bbn)
