Major delays as highway closed

Major delays as highway closed

Oyos Saroso HN, The Jakarta Post, Bandar Lampung, Lampung

The highway connecting Lampung and neighboring provinces in
Sumatra was closed on Wednesday for renovations that will last 10
days, as a section of the main road has been damaged following
days of heavy rain.

The closure has forced the local transportation authorities to
reroute vehicles traversing the Sumatran highway to or from
Lampung's Bakauheni ferry port.

The vehicles now have to take one of three alternative routes:
First, via Simpang Babatan, Pasar Tanjungan and Pasar Umbulkates
to Bakauheni; second, via Umbulbayur, Tanjung Bintang and Jl.
Soekarno Hatta to Bandar Lampung; third, via Labuhan Maringgai
(East Lampung Timur), Sukadana, Kotagajah and Gunung Sugih to
Bandar Lampung.

The closure was made after a water channel, under a section of
the road in the hamlet of Umbul Kidul in Pardasuka village, South
Lampung, were badly damaged after being hit by floodwaters.

The water channels, some 24 kilometers from Bakauheni, were
swept away by floodwaters triggered by days of heavy rain.

There are at least 20 water channels along the 90-kilometer
road between Bakauheni and the provincial capital, Bandar
Lampung. They were all in poor physical condition due to a lack
of maintenance by the local public works office.

However, the three alternative routes cannot be used by large
trucks loaded with more than 20 tons of cargo, because there are
several emergency bridges that they cannot use.

Large trucks have been advised to reduce their loads in order
to be able to use the three alternative routes.

This has forced drivers to park large trucks at emergency
parking lots along the Bandar Lampung to Bakauheni route.

To solve the problem, the local administration opened on
Wednesday Panjang container port, the largest in Sumatra, for
large trucks that were heading for the ferry to Merak port,
Serang, Banten.

"If we cross via Panjang, there is a 100 percent increase in
transportation costs because the distance between the port and
Merak is farther than that between Bakauheni and Merak,"
complained Warsit, 37, the driver of a truck carrying bananas
from Lampung to the main Pasar Induk market in Kramatjati, East
Jakarta.

Sulton, 32, another truck driver, said he had to pay Rp 1
million (US$117) in ferry fares from Panjang to Merak, a distance
of about 54 miles. "Meanwhile, to cross via Bakauheni, it costs
only Rp 350,000."

He acknowledged he had to cover the increase in transportation
cost, otherwise he would not be able to return to Jakarta.

A similar grievance was expressed by another driver, Rosidi,
40, who said he had to pay Rp 950,000 to take his truck to Merak
from Panjang. Normally, he paid only Rp 250,000 to cross via
Bakauheni.

Deputy head of Lampung transportation office Haryo Setmiko
said truck drivers were charged Rp 950,000 to Rp 1.5 million per
truckload from Panjang to Merak.

"The charge is usual because the distance between Panjang and
Merak is greater -- 54 miles -- while Bakauheni to Merak is only
15 miles," he argued.

Normally, it takes two to three hours for a passenger ferry to
sail from Bakauheni to Merak, and seven to nine hours via
Panjang.

Setmiko said his office had coordinated with PT ASDP, the
operator of Bakauheni port, to open Panjang for large trucks.

"Starting Wednesday, two ferries will operate to serve the
Panjang to Merak route. The two -- the Duta Banten and Mitra
Nusantara -- are being provided to carry trucks up to 15 tons
fully loaded," he said.

However it was around 2:30 p.m. before the two ferries arrived
at Panjang, where some 1,000 trucks had been waiting for hours to
make the crossing.

Setmiko advised public buses and private vehicles to continue
to cross via Bakauheni port.