By: Choirul Fuadi)*
CIDISS – The focus of infrastructure development in Java began to be diverted outside Java. One of them is infrastructure development of Toll Road in Kalimantan. The toll road is across Balikpapan-Samarinda and has a length of up to 99.35 km. This is the first toll road built on the island of Borneo.
The construction of the toll road is one proof of the seriousness of the government of Indonesian President, Joko Widodo (Jokowi) in order to increase the economy in Kalimantan. The toll road is also one of the priority infrastructure built to support the connectivity between two major cities in Kalimantan, Balikpapan and Samarinda.
This section enters into 1 of 47 priority toll roads of President Jokowi according to Presidential Instruction No. 3 of 2016 on the Acceleration of National Strategic Projects. In the construction of the Toll Road, it requires an investment cost of IDR 9.97 trillion.
This project has long been initiated its development. In 2010, this project has started its work, but was stopped due to land acquisition constraints. And at the beginning of 2015, the project is getting attention. President Jokowi instructed that the process should be accelerated, as the longer land acquisition will make the land cost higher, so that the project will no longer be financially feasible.
Jokowi’s instruction was followed up by the Ministry of Public Works and People’s Housing (PUPR) by doing a number of breakthroughs. The financing that originally relied on 100% of the East Kalimantan Regional Budget was converted into financing from three sources: the Regional Budget (APBD), the State Budget (APBN), the Chinese Government’s borrowings and the costs of the toll road concession owners.
Comments are closed.