Government Urged To Rush Construction Of Trans Sumatra Road Project

Jakarta, Nov 19 (Antara) - An observer from the Center for Information and Development Studies (CUDES), Umar Juoro, and House of Representatives` Commission-V Chairman Lauren Bahang Dama have urged the government to issue a Presidential Regulation (Perpres) regarding the construction of the Trans Sumatra toll road project. "The roads in Sumatra are inadequate and the high traffic density has led to steep economic costs. Therefore the government should issue the Perpres to speed up the Trans Sumatra toll road project," Umar Juoro and Lauren Bahang Dama demanded in a written statement on Sunday. Umar Juoro noted that one of the ways in which the road maintenance budget could be cut down was to speed up the construction of the Trans Sumatra toll road in order to improve economic growth in Sumatra. Meanwhile, Lauren Bahang Dama said the Trans Sumatra toll road was a project under the Masterplan for Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesia`s Economic Development (MP3EI), but the project was yet to be implemented. "We have included the project in the government`s mid-term development plan and therefore it should be sped up," Lauren said, hoping that the Perpres could be issued before the end of December. The Coordinating Minister for the Economy Hatta Radjasa had revealed in July that the government had allocated Rp2 trillion from the State Budget to finance the early stages of the Trans Sumatra toll road construction that will connect all provinces on the Sumatra island. At the time, the minister had stated that the 2,700 kilometers-long road would connect provinces starting from the Aceh province on the northern tip of the Sumatra island to the Lampung province on the southern tip of the island. He had added that state-owned contractor PT Hutama Kaya would be in charge of completing the entire construction of the toll road.