After roads reconnect in Sumatra

The word that appears most often in the report is “functional”. It is an honest word. It says that something can be used again while acknowledging that the work is not finished.

Jakarta (ANTARA) – In Bener Meriah regency, Aceh, Enang-Enang Bridge has reopened to traffic. Vehicles travelling to and from the Gayo Highlands are crossing it again, almost a year after flash floods and landslides at the end of November 2025 struck 53 regencies and municipalities in Aceh, North Sumatra and West Sumatra.

Next year, the Ministry of Public Works plans to build a new bridge at the site, Weihni Enang-Enang Bridge, which is intended to become an icon of the Gayo Land.

That one bridge represents two stages of recovery. The first restores its function: people and goods can get across. The second is to build something stronger than what was swept away.

The one-year report delivered by Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian, as head of the Task Force for the Acceleration of Post-Disaster Rehabilitation and Reconstruction in Sumatra, to President Prabowo Subianto at a limited meeting at Merdeka Palace on Monday (9 November) is essentially a record of the shift from the first stage to the second.

The word that appears most often in the report is “functional”. It is an honest word. It says that something can be used again while acknowledging that the work is not finished.

All affected national roads in the three provinces are now passable, with some permanently repaired to a higher standard. All 43 affected national bridges have also returned to service.

Across the 53 regencies and municipalities, reconnecting the main routes is a prerequisite for all other work, because heavy machinery, building materials, fertiliser and harvests all move along the same roads.

Temporary housing is nearly complete: 20,803 units, or 99.84 per cent. All 3,902 hectares of affected rice fields in West Sumatra are operational again, while more than 98 per cent of the 7,336 hectares in North Sumatra have recovered. In Aceh, 115 of the 127 affected markets have resumed serving shoppers.

These figures describe daily life starting up again. The same report also clearly maps what remains undone. Local roads have been restored to 94 per cent in Aceh, 98 per cent in North Sumatra and 83 per cent in West Sumatra. Of the thousands of affected local bridges, 604 are reported to be functioning.

In Aceh, around a quarter of the 31,464 hectares of affected rice fields remain severely damaged, buried under mud and landslide debris that is up to two metres deep in some places. The same deposits have affected 30,417 hectares of fish and shrimp ponds and floating net cages. Ten regencies remain on the Task Force’s watchlist.

That list is a map of the work ahead. Almost all remaining tasks are at regency and village level, where roads are smaller, bridges more numerous and land harder to reach. The second year of recovery will take place there.