More roads being built on outer islands

More roads being built on outer islands

JAKARTA (JP): The government has spent some Rp 168 billion
(US$77.8 million) to build the roads connecting Jayapura and
Wamena, both in the province of Irian Jaya, as a part of the
Trans Irian highway network.

Minister of Public Works Radinal Moochtar said in a hearing
with the House of Representatives (DPR), yesterday, that the
ministry started the construction of the roads in 1990/1991
fiscal year.

Radinal said that the government had also developed the Trans
Kalimantan highway on Kalimantan Island, Trans Seram in the
Maluku province as well as a road joining Natal and Sibolga in
North Sumatra.

The government thought the development of Trans Irian,
connecting Sorong and Jayapura, would be a significant boost to
the exploitation of natural resources on the island.

Legislator S.G.B. Tampubolon of the Indonesian Democratic
Party (PDI), however, told Radinal that the government had not
paid enough attention to the construction of new roads in the
outer islands.

Citing an example, Tampubolon said that the general level of
development of roads in Riau province was much lower than those
in Wonogiri district, Central Java.

"Why do we always talk about Wonogiri and other Java-based
road development projects? Why not the other islands?" added
Tampubolon, who himself is a representative from Pacitan, East
Java.

"A province like Riau, which contributes a lot to the central
government, deserves more road development than Wonogiri," he
said bluntly, referring to Riau's huge oil revenue contribution.

In a related development, he said that the Trans Seram roadway
will cost Rp 97 billion, of which some Rp 75 billion had been
spent during the fifth Five Year Development.

He added that of 90 kilometer road connecting Jembatan Merah
and Natal in North Sumatra, 61 kilometers had been completed,
while 70 of the 170 kilometers of road from Natal to Barang Toru
had been finished.(09)