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)