Samarinda to get Rp 47b flyover

JAKARTA (JP): East Kalimantan's capital Samarinda will have a Rp 47 billion (US$19.58 million) flyover across the Mahakam river by the year 2003, a local official said yesterday.

Head of Samarinda's local planning and development agency, Mardiansyah, said the flyover would support the province's economy when the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Free Trade Area begins in 2003.

Mardiansyah said the flyover was urgently needed because the flow of traffic and goods had increased along with the region's industrial growth.

He said the existing Mahakam bridge would remain.

He said construction should start next year. It would be funded by the provincial and mayoralty governments and World Bank loans.

Mardiansyah said the provincial government would give an initial Rp 250 million and the mayoralty would give Rp 400 million. The project had been approved by East Kalimantan's provincial administration, he said.

Mardiansyah said the flyover would be part of the trans- Kalimantan highway. The highway was expected to ease traffic in along the border to East Malaysia's Sabah and Sarawak states.

Up to 3,000 container trucks travel through Samarinda each month.

"If land transportation is not improved congestion could affect trade," he said, reported Antara. (pwn)