Jakarta (VNA) – The IndonesianMinistry of Public Works and Housing (PUPR) said it will offer nine toll road projects during 2020.
Minister Basuki Hadimuljono said this year, the Indonesian governmentprepared an investment of 395 trillion Rp (26.33 billion USD) for toll roadprojects across the archipelago.
“Although the finance ministry saved a budget of 44 trillion Rp, no activitieswere canceled,” he told reporters through a virtual press conference after alimited Cabinet meeting on the National Strategic Projects led by PresidentJoko Widodo on May 28.
Hadimuljono reported that some of the toll roads will beinaugurated this year, including BandaAceh – Sigli with a length of 14 kilometers (km), Pekanbaru – Dumai 131 km,Manado 21 km, and Balikpapan – Samarinda 33 km. Then, part of Makassar tollroad, Cibitung – Cilincing, and Kriyan toll road in East Java will be opened atthe end of the year.
The head of Indonesia’ Toll Road Regulatory Agency, Danang Parikesit, addedthat six of the nine projects tobe auctioned were proposals or initiatives from business entities. They will have a total investment of 135.60trillion Rp and a total length of over 461km.
The Indonesian government set a target of building 3,000 km of new toll roads acrossthe country in the next five years. President Joko Widodo said during his firstterm, the country has build 720 km of toll roads.
“In the next five years, we hope that we already have 5,000 kmof toll roads. Therefore, we are still focusing on infrastructuredevelopment in addition to human resource development,“ he stated not long ago./.