Taiwan companies to build Manado-Bitung road
Yongker Rumthe, The Jakarta Post, Manado
The LED Group, a construction and road building business group in Taiwan, is preparing a substantial transport infrastructure project in North Sulawesi's emerging industrial districts.
The construction company will build a 47-kilometer-long tollroad connecting the industrial districts of Manado, Bitung and a seven-kilometer-long coastal road in an industrial estate along the Bitung coast.
Chairman of Manado-Bitung Integrated Economic Development Zone (Kapet Manado-Bitung), Fenny Wurangian, told The Jakarta Post on Friday that the plan was based on a number of feasibility studies carried out by Taiwanese businesses.
He explained that the plan emerged after Indonesia showed its intention to develop Bitung harbor into an international seaport.
"After several meetings with the local administration, the Taiwanese business group revealed that they had been interested in North Sulawesi for some time now, especially Bitung, which they consider a business gate to the Pacific," he added.
The project will be conducted under the build-operate-transfer scheme, whereby Taiwan, as the sole donor, has the right to operate the tollroad for a certain term before handing it over to the administration.
"So don't be shocked when the road tolls go at first to the pockets of the Taiwanese firms who built the project," Wurangian remarked, when appealing to locals to participate in the multi- billion rupiah investment.
Wurangian said that Kapet Manado-Bitung was arranging several meetings between Taiwanese businesses and the administration to discuss technical matters regarding the construction of the tollroad.
Plans for several technical engineers from the LED Group to design the construction together with engineers from the administration's infrastructure office, will be revealed at the meeting, which is scheduled to take place from Dec. 27 to Dec. 29 in Manado.
"With the authority of the governor, we will try to remove any bureaucratic obstacles that may hamper the project. We also have a security guarantee from local security officers and from residents around the project site," said Wurangian.