Security from threats and terror that continues to be intensified by the Papuan Separatist and Terrorist Group (KST) continues to be tightened because so far they have continued to disrupt and even hinder many National Strategic Projects (PSN), especially in Bumi Cenderawasih. With this certainty of security, the 50 km Trans Papua Road on the Mamberamo to Elelim segment will soon be built.
Construction of the Trans Papua Road on the Jayapura-Wamena section with the Mamberamo to Elelim segment 50 kilometers (KM) long will be carried out soon. Regarding this development, the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (Kemen PUPR) targets that road construction, which is also included in one of the national strategic projects (PSN), will be accelerated in early 2024.
It is known that the construction of the road was financed through a cooperation scheme between the Government of the Republic of Indonesia (RI) and the Service Availability Payment Business Entity (KPBU-AP). The Director General of Public Works and Housing Infrastructure Financing at the Ministry of PUPR, Herry Trisaputra Zuna, explained that Trans Papua was actually at the final stage of procurement, then the determination and signing of the agreement had already been carried out.
Then the issue of land availability in Papua is not an obstacle and is not a problem at all, so in fact it can be done straight away. Therefore, the possible target for construction to begin is early next year.
As per data from the PPP website of the Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu RI), the Trans Papua Road project on the Mamberamo to Elelim segment is part of the Jayapura to Wamena section with a handling length of up to 45.95 Km. The handling itself is carried out through a PPP scheme which is planned to have a concession period of up to 15 years with an investment value of 3.6 trillion Rupiah.
The Trans Papua Road itself is targeted to be able to cover roads up to 3,462 kilometers (km). However, so far construction on the Trans Papua road, including the Jayapura-Wamena section, has continued to experience obstacles to its construction for a long time.
Obstacles to development are caused by several things, such as difficult terrain to reach, as well as interventions, harassment and threats that continue to be made by Separatist and Terrorist Groups (KST) in Bumi Cenderawasih. Therefore, as a result, the target for completion continues to experience setbacks, from initially being targeted for completion in 2017, then to 2019 and now even continuing to experience setbacks until 2024.
Previously, the Director General of Highways of the PUPR Ministry, Hedy Rahadian, revealed that there were quite a lot of difficulties that had to be faced in terms of executing and ensuring the smooth running of the toll road project which was able to penetrate the very dense forest.
One thing that continues to pose a threat of difficulties is of course the intervention and disruption as well as terror from the many series of violent acts that continue to be carried out by KST Papua. For this reason, the first thing to really focus on is security issues first.
Because, from the start, this security problem has been a very serious matter and monitoring should continue to be optimized so that the construction and work targets until completion of the Trans Papua Road can be achieved according to the schedule that has been set.
To date, the Government of the Republic of Indonesia continues to significantly tighten the issue of escort and security, and recently various security programs have also been implemented, especially in various areas that are referred to and included in the red zone category.
Due to continuing threats to security and interventions carried out by separatist gangs, the PUPR Ministry has made a number of efforts to increase the tightening of security in order to continue to be able to guarantee the safety of construction workers there through the security improvements carried out.
Not only that, but there are also other problems such as logistical problems which are also one of the big obstacles why the construction of the Trans Papua Road continues to experience setbacks. Bearing in mind, the distance and also the terrain that must be covered to reach the construction site can be said to be quite difficult because it is entering a very dense forest.
Even though there are still several obstacles, there is still high hope that in 2024 the toll road will be completed on time, especially on the 575 km long Jayapura to Wamena road.
Construction will soon be carried out on the Trans Papua Road, especially on the 50 km Mamberamo to Elelim segment, which has so far continued to be hampered by actions and threats of intervention from KST Papua. Therefore, to ensure the smooth running of development projects, the government continues to increase and tighten security in the area.
