Govt to build Medan-Binjai road

MEDAN, North Sumatra: After nearly a decade of planning and negotiations, it finally appears that a 20.5-kilometer toll road between Medan and Binjai will be built.

Budi Sinulingga, the head of North Sumatra Planning and Development Body, said on Tuesday that the construction of the road would cost the provincial government Rp 964.55 billion (US$ 102 million).

The North Sumatra provincial government is cooperating with state toll road builder and operator PT Jasa Marga on the project, which was initiated in 1995, but was postponed due to the financial crisis of the late 1990s. -- JP