Korea grants $3 million for road-building in Sumatra

The Jakarta Post, 10/28/2008 2:13 AM  

The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) has awarded a grant of US$3 million to the Ministry of Public Works to establish a master plan for a network of arterial roads in Sumatra. 

KOICA is a Korean government agency founded to assist socio-economic development in developing countries. 

"The roads will generate economic activity and raise the competitiveness of the region by connecting ports to businesses," said Achmad Hermanto Dardak, the ministry's director general of highways, speaking Monday on the sidelines of the first workshop for designing the master plan. 

Heads of regional development planning boards from all the island's provinces attended the workshop. 

The Indonesian government requested support from the Korean government to develop the master plan as a follow-up to joint task force meeting between the two governments in April 2007. 

KOICA is providing the Indonesian government with technical assistance to develop the master plan on behalf of the Korean government, Hermanto said. 

Technical planning experts from Korea Transport Institute and from two Korean engineering consulting companies, Sambo and Yooshin, will participate. The Indonesian government will provide administrative assistance. 

The planning project is expected to be completed in two years by July 2010. The preparation phase for road building will take place between 2010 and 2014. 

The construction of the Sumatra road network itself is planned in three phases of five years each, from 2015 to 2029. 

Sumatra has 10 provinces: Bangka Belitung islands, Bengkulu, Jambi, Lampung, Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, North Sumatra, Riau, Riau islands, South Sumatra and West Sumatra. (iwp)