Repair of roads in Indonesia main island to be completed 2009

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto said his ministry had plans to finish repairing roads in four main islands of the country, namely Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi, in 2009.

He said that not all roads in the four islands were repaired, however. Priority would be given to roads that served as vital traffic lanes.

The minister said the government would give priority to the east and north Trans-Sumatra Highways in Sumatra, the northern lane in Java, the southern lane in Kalimantan and the western lane in Sulawesi.

For Kalimantan, the minister called on four governors to realize a proposed Trans-Kalimantan Highway project which were expected to speed up development in their regions.

The four governors who are grouped in the Kalimantan Regional Cooperation Forum conveyed their wish at a meeting with the minister recently.

The four governors were Teras Narang of Central Kalimantan, Rudi Arifin of South Kalimantan, Djafar Umar of West Kalimantan and Timur Yurnalis (acting governor) of East Kalimantan.

In Papua, according to the minister, the government was building roads which open access to remote areas.

"The Papua-Marauke highway is actually vital but we would first construct roads which connect the highway with remote areas and ports," the minister said during a coordination meeting here on Friday.

He said that there were about 34 national roads that needed to be maintained in order to support the development of national economy.

According to the minister, the constraints the government was facing in constructing roads so far included land clearance which often needed some two to ten years to finish.

On toll road, the minister said that there were still many toll roads awaiting investors. Besides, there were also banks which were prepared to provide funds for toll road projects.