Governor Sherly Highlights North Maluku's Two Main Issues: Roads and Bridges
The North Maluku Provincial Government is prioritising road and bridge connectivity development to support economic equality in the region that serves as a centre for nickel downstreaming. The move is deemed urgent to connect areas producing agricultural and fishery commodities with national and international market hubs.
North Maluku Governor Sherly Tjoanda explained that adequate road infrastructure is a prerequisite for ensuring the region’s 19.6% economic growth can be directly felt by the grassroots community. She noted that accessibility remains a barrier for farmers and fishermen in remote areas to market their produce efficiently.
“One of the issues is connectivity, roads and bridges. Roads and bridges that are not yet connected, because 60% of our people are farmers and 20% are fishermen,” she clarified in CNBC Indonesia’s Mining Zone programme.
The readiness level of provincial roads in North Maluku is currently recorded at only 46% of the total requirement. Her administration notes there is still a shortfall of 550 kilometres of provincial road construction, of which 100 km have been completed in the past year.
“My target and that of Mr Sarbin (Sarbin Sehe, Deputy Governor of North Maluku) during our leadership term is to complete 100% of provincial roads before 2030. That will be quite helpful, but we must also have district roads,” Sherly said.
Beyond the provincial road issue, another major challenge lies in the construction of district roads, which span 1,900 km and remain unfinished to date. The scale of the infrastructure project requires strong funding support, in line with North Maluku’s status as the largest nickel-producing region.
“The hope is that as the region with the highest economic growth and one of the world’s largest nickel reserves, the road and bridge problems should be resolved soon. That is our homework. But without road and bridge connectivity, there is no economic equality,” she stressed.
Her administration is committed to converting the economic value of natural resource wealth, specifically nickel, into capital for sustainable road and bridge infrastructure development. This effort is aimed at ensuring the community maintains a robust economy through agriculture and fisheries even after mineral reserves are eventually depleted.
“Our task now is how to convert our natural wealth, in this case nickel, into bridges, into leverage, using it as capital to prepare better roads and bridges,” she concluded.