Construction of Java-Sumatra tunnel to begin in 2005
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government is planning to start the construction of a US$15 billion underground twin tunnel connecting Java and Sumatra early next year, a senior official said on Thursday.
Deputy for infrastructure development of the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) Suyono Dikun said that the project would be financed by a consortium led by European Union investors.
"And by 2008, the project will hopefully be completed," said Suyono, during a seminar on the tunnels, dubbed the Nusantara Tunnel.
"We are also considering the participation of several (Indonesian) state enterprises in the project," he said, hinting that it could include state-owned railway company PT KA, electric company PT PLN, telecommunications company Telkom and petroleum company Pertamina.
To cover required funds of up to US$2 billion for the initial construction and another US$4 million per year for operational and maintenance costs, Suyono further said that there would be a toll of approximately US$20 per vehicle per trip.
The tunnel is planned to be 33 kilometers long, with most of it 40 meters below the ocean bed (averages about 70 meters below sea level) in the Sunda Strait between the Java and Sumatra islands.
Each tunnel will have a cross-section of 8.5 meters in height and 6.5 meters in width, and will contain a railway for two-way electric car trains capable of transporting 15,500 vehicles across the tunnel per day.
Officials of PT Nusantara Tunnel Indonesia (NTI), one of the tunnel's main local investors, presented in the seminar how successful the concept of electric car trains would be for mass transportation, taking the example of the same concept already in use in the Dover Strait Tunnel, commonly referred to as the Channel Tunnel, between France and the British Isles.
Commenting on the construction, State Minister of National Development Planning/Bappenas chairperson Kwik Kian Gie, said that it would be impossible for the government to finance the project by itself.
"The most feasible option is offering the project to investors through a build, operate and transfer (BOT) scheme," he said.
Kwik, also acknowledged how important the project was, citing that it would be essential in connecting Java's main northern route with Sumatra's main highway system.
The tunnels, Kwik continued, would also be an important part of the future "ASEAN route", which is planned to connect the length between Indonesia's Bali and mainland Asia on the Malay peninsula as well as the "Asia route", planned to extend from Bali to Beijing and beyond.