By: Wilan Nasution
The inauguration of the Holtekamp bridge or Youtefa bridge, which spent Rp1.8 trillion, this afternoon Papua when President Joko Widodo was accompanied by Minister of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) Basuki Hadimuljono, Deputy Minister of PUPR, John Wempi Wentimpo, Minister of Home Affairs, Tito Karnavian, and the Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi, and Papua Governor Lukas Enembe are clear evidence of how much love the central government currently presides by President Joko Widodo with KH. Ma’ruf Amin as the Indonesian Vice President for Papua, at the same time proved his determination that “Indonesia is Papua and Papua is Indonesia”.
The construction of the Holtekamp bridge also further confirms that President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has a strong commitment from the beginning to develop Papua. However, the severity of the terrain makes development of areas in the eastern tip of Indonesia require a short amount of time, because development in regions that have difficult geographies such as in the central mountain regions and western central mountains, starting from Puncak Jaya, Puncak Lani Jaya, Nduga, Yahukimo from the central mountain area, including the western central mountain region, the Waniai, Intan Jaya, Dogiyai areas, and around Mimika need a long time. But this does not close the eyes of President Jokowi who already understands that the problem facing the people of Papua today is equitable development and prosperity, so that President Jokowi will continue to build infrastructure in Papua.
The Papuan people are truly grateful for the results of the current development. Many people are optimistic that Papuans can be patient with the government’s efforts to advance the Earth of Cenderawasih, even though there are disturbances from armed groups that are not in line with the government.
The Holtekamp Bridge will change its name to Youtefa Bridge when it is inaugurated this afternoon. The bridge has a total length of 11.6 km which is divided into four parts, namely the 320 meters Pendekat Road with a total budget of Rp 51 billion, coming from the Jayapura City Government. The Central Landscape is 433 meters long with a total budget spent on construction of Rp 943.6 billion from the Ministry of PUPR.
The Holtekamp Side Approach Bridge is 900 meters long with a total budget of Rp 668.3 billion. The fund is divided into two, namely from the Provincial Government and the Ministry of PUPR. Finally, an access road of 9,950 meters with a total budget of Rp225.7 billion spent came from the Ministry of PUPR.
The Holtekamp Bridge or Youtefa Bridge began construction in 2015. During the construction, the bridge has also won a record from the Indonesian Record Museum, which is the longest intact steel frame bridge installation record.
This bridge is touted as the New Icon of Papua that connects Jayapura directly with the Skouw Cross-border area. This bridge can shorten the distance and travel time to about 70 minutes from Jayapura City to the Muara Tami District and the Skow Cross-border area. Keep in mind, Muara Tami District is an area where the construction of the State Palace is planned to be built in Papua.
Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) John Wempi Wetimpo asked all parties to guard the Holtekamp Bridge in Jayapura, Papua with all parties maintaining the cleanliness and maintaining the bridge, especially the cleanliness of betel nuts which could make this bridge look dirty and not manicured. Wempi said, the construction of the New Icon of Papua is one of the government’s commitments to build infrastructure in Eastern Indonesia.
Triggering economic development and tourist attraction
The construction of the Holtekamp or Youtefa bridge is clearly a realization of the infrastructure development that was launched by President Joko Widodo since the first period of his administration. For the people of Papua, the existence of this bridge is expected to trigger regional economic development, as well as this bridge can become a tourist attraction in its own way, like the Ampera bridge in Palembang, the Barelang bridge (Batam-Rempang-Galang) in Batam, the Suramadu bridge in Madura-Java East, and the Leighton bridge in Pekanbaru, Riau precisely above the Siak River which is not quietly traversed by the community and used as a tourist location.
With the inauguration of the construction of the Holtekamp or Youtefa bridge, the government hopes that areas isolated due to the difficulty of geography in Papua will be increasingly reduced, so that the mobility of economic and social life in Papua is not constrained by adequate infrastructure, even with the existence of this bridge it can also increase “prestige nation “because this interesting bridge also connects Papua with Papua New Guinea.
The construction of this bridge last but not least will also provide literacy and positive signals to the global community that Indonesia loves Indonesia and Papua loves Indonesia. Hopefully.
*) The author is an observer of the Papua problem.