State-backed road projects to soon provide 600,000 new jobs

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 03/27/2009 2:14 PM

The Public Works Ministry expects 605,000 new jobs could be quickly created by building highways financed by the state budget.

"Originally, we predicted the acceleration of national road development would absorb 550,000 new workers. But if we add the stimulus factor ... we can have another 55,000 workers," the ministry's director general for highways Hermanto Dardak said on Wednesday.

"The stimulus package for road development amounting to Rp 1.7 trillion (US$195 million) will add to our existing Rp 18.7 trillion for roads. We have submitted the project proposal to the Finance Ministry and hopefully they can disburse the package as soon as possible," he said.

According to Hermanto, the ministry will use the budget for developing, maintaining and reconstructing around 33,000 kilometers (km) of roads and 62,000 meters of bridges.

The archipelago has about 350,000 km of roads -- 35,000 km of which have been built by the central government Public Works Ministry.

The ministry will prioritize the development and reconstruction of damaged highways that function as vital arteries for national distribution of goods and commodity trade.

Among these are the Tanjung Priok access road in Jakarta, and the Bogor ring road in West Java.

Four highway sections -- Eastern trans - Sumatra, Lahat - Tebing Tinggi, Manokwari - Sorong and the Manado - Mapanget link roads -- will receive extra funds from the stimulus package, according to Hermanto. The largest portion of the road construction budget will be for the bridge connecting the East Java capital Surabaya and Madura island.

"We have allocated Rp 4.5 trillion for the completion of the Suramadu bridge, which is expected to finish by the end of June," Hermanto said.

The ministry has allocated Rp 11 trillion for the construction of new roads; Rp 325 billion for land needed to build new roads and around Rp 2 trillion for capping land prices and completing land purchases.

The allocation for land acquisitions and capping will be prioritized for the Solo-Kertosono, Medan-Kualanamo and Cileunyi-Sumedang-Dawuan highway projects. (hdt)