Consortium to build Java-Bali bridge

Consortium to build Java-Bali bridge

SEMARANG, Central Java (JP): Scotia Bali Bridge Co. -- a
consortium of PT Mitra Trans Balongan Indonesia, Scotia
International Associates and Brown Beach & Associates Ltd of
Britain -- will construct a five-kilometer suspension bridge
linking Java and Bali.

"The Ministry of Public Works has granted the consortium a
license to conduct a feasibility study on the bridge development.
The study, started last month, will be completed within one
year," East Java Governor Basofi Sudirman said here yesterday.

Basofi said that the bridge should help East Java benefit from
the tourist arrivals to Bali, Indonesia's largest tourist
attraction.

The project, which is expected to be completed in four years
(excluding the one-year feasibility study), is part of the Tri
Bima Nusa Sakti package ordered by President Soeharto in 1985.

Under the package, President Soeharto instructed Minister of
Research and Technology B.J. Habibie to build three long-span
bridges linking Sumatra and Java, Java and Madura, and Java and
Bali.

Basofi said that only two of the three bridge projects --
linking Java-Bali and Java-Madura -- have been confirmed.

The Java-Bali bridge will be part of the trans-Java highway
and will be operated as a turnpike by the state-owned toll road
operator PT Jasa Marga.

Due to the deep sea bed between the two islands, a suspension
bridge was chosen as the most suitable and cost-effective form of
bridge. (har/13)