Bridge project linking Java and Sumatra approved

Bridge project linking Java and Sumatra approved

JAKARTA (JP): The government has approved a proposal to build
a 60-kilometer bridge linking Java and Sumatra, Indonesia's two
most-developed and populous islands.

Lampung Governor Poedjono Pranyoto said in Bandar Lampung last
week that his administration would carry out feasibility studies
for the project beginning next year.

"We will soon dispatch a number of officials to study
interisland bridges overseas," he told reporters.

If realized, the planned bridge will become the second
interisland bridge in the country, after the Madura-Java
overpass, and will stretch over the Sunda Strait, starting from
Merak, at the western tip of West Java and ending at the
Penengahan district in the southern part of Lampung province.

Poedjono said that the massive bridge project will be directly
overseen by the central government.

However, he said, the model of the bridge would be determined
by the Lampung administration, even though the project will be
solely handled by Jakarta.

He said that a number of investors from Europe and Japan have
expressed their interest to finance the project.

Lampung, the main land gateway of Sumatra provinces from Java,
is now linked by ferries, which cross the Sunda Strait from Merak
to Bakauhuni every hour.

The 1.5-hour ferry trip is, however, no longer adequate to
meet the growing number of both passengers and vehicles, mostly
trucks, using the route. On busy days, trucks and cars often have
to wait for hours to get onto the ferry. During such peak seasons
as the Idul Fitri holidays, motorists and passengers are even
forced to line up for an average of six hours before getting on a
ferry.

The government is constructing new piers both in Merak and
Bakauhuni to increase the ferry traffic but Poedjono said that
the increase in the trip frequency is not enough, given the sharp
increase in the flow of both passengers and vehicles using the
route.

The number of passengers crossing the Merak-Bakauhuni route
increased by over 30 percent to 11.50 million people in 1994 from
8.61 million in 1993. In the same period, the number of vehicles
crossing the route rose by 20 percent to 1.32 million from 1.1
million.

The government estimates that in 2000, the number of
passengers will increase to 13 million, while the number of
vehicles will reach 1.7 million.

"If no breakthrough is made, the congestion of vehicles and
passengers lining up to get ferries will be really troublesome,"
he said.

The governor did not state the estimated investment for the
bridge project.

Early last year, the government formed a consortium, chaired
by Minister of Research and Technology B.J. Habibie, to prepare
the construction of a bridge linking Java and Madura.

The consortium for the bridge project, which will cost
US$260.86 million to construct, consists of the Japanese
companies Mitsubishi Corp., Itochu Corp. and Long-Term Credit
Bank and Indonesian companies PT Bukaka Teknik Utama, industrial
estate company in East Java PT SIER, state-owned shipbuilding
company PT PAL and steel producer PT Krakatau Steel. (hen)