Gov’t to Inaugurate Road Section II-IV of Balikpapan-Samarinda Toll
Ahead of this year’s Christmas and New Year holidays, Samarinda (Balsam) Toll Road, in particular, sections II, III, and IV which stretches 66 km, is ready to be inaugurated.
The overall construction progress of the toll road has reached 97%.
“It is estimated that the inauguration will be held in the second week. We need to wait for the President’s schedule,” Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing Basuki Hadimuljono said after an inspection at the construction of sections I and V of the toll road, Thursday (5/12).
Earlier on Wednesday (4/12), Basuki had also reviewed the toll road from Balikpapan to Samarinda.
Constructions of sections II, III, and IV of the toll road, the Minister said, are completed by the Toll Road Business Entity (BUJT), while constructions of section I and V are portions of the Government.
Both sections have technical problems due to land movement so special construction techniques are needed, he added.
“For section V, we have made a decision on how to handle it. This week the final design will be discussed with a second opinion from our experts to be followed up on. After the design is agreed on, it will be submitted to the BUJT and further submitted to PT Wijaya Karya as the contractor to handle the land movement. Hopefully, it can be completed before next year’s Eid Day,” he said.
Meanwhile, for section I of the toll road – which is also financed by regional budget -, the Minister said that its design has now been submitted by the consultants and it is now on the phase of waiting for the handover of the fieldwork from the regional government to BUJT and contractors.
“So, overall the Balsam Toll Road is targeted to be fully operational before the 2020 Eid Day,” the Minister added.
The toll road – which has an investment value of Rp9.9 trillion – is expected to improve connectivity for the development of the State Capital, which crosses the Samboja District of Kutai Kartanegara Regency, which is one of the Regencies other than North Penajam Paser Regency as a new nation’s capital prospective area in East Kalimantan, as determined by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.
It is also expected that the operation of a toll road can cut logistics costs for goods and services and travel time between Balikpapan and Samarinda from around 3 hours to just one hour.
The Balikpapan – Samarinda Toll Road also provides access to the Sultan Aji Muhammad Sulaiman Sepinggan International Airport with access to this airport can be reached within 15-20 minutes by using Section V of the Balikpapan-Sepinggan section which is only about 8 km from the airport.
For the record, construction the Balikpapan-Samarinda Toll Road has been underway since November 2016 consisting of five sections, namely Section I of Balikpapan-Samboja (22.03 Km), Section II of Samboja-Muara Jawa (30.98 Km), Section III of Muara Jawa-Palaran (17.50 Km), Section IV of Palaran-Samarinda (17.95 Km), and Section V of Balikpapan – Sepinggan (11.09 Km).
Of the five sections, the Ministry and the provincial government of East Kalimantan provided construction support in Section I and Section V aimed at increasing financial viability of the toll road section.
The construction of Section I uses the East Kalimantan Regional Budget (APBD) funds of Rp1.5 trillion and the State Budget of Rp271 billion, of which Rp 79.88 billion is allocated for the construction of the 613-meter Manggar Bridge.
Section V is funded by the State Budget which is originated from loans from the Chinese Government amounting to Rp848.55 billion or around 8.5% of the total investment. Meanwhile, for sections II, III, and IV, the construction uses BUJT funds of PT. Jasa Marga Balikpapan-Samarinda.
In addition to the Balikpapan – Samarinda Toll Road, the Minister said that he had also planned the construction of the Balikpapan Toll Road to the State Capital Region (IKN).
It is expected that the Government will assign PT Jasa Marga Samarinda-Balikpapan to accelerate the construction process.
Currently, Basuki added, the toll road plan is in the stage of determining its alignment and the project will also be prioritized to be included in the list of National Strategic Projects (PSN) so that land acquisition can be accelerated. The Balikpapan-IKN toll road section is designed to be around 60 km in length.
Value of the investment, Basuki stated, must be adjusted to planning of the design and if it does not require elevated construction, the investment is estimated to reach Rp20 billion to Rp150 billion per km. (BKP Kementerian PUPR/ES)
Translated by : Fairuzzamani Inayatillah
Reviewed by : Muhammad Ersan Pamungkas