Trans Sumatra Toll Road Prone To Crime, Hutama Karya Increases Patrol Officers

Trans Sumatra toll road. (Photo: Hutama Karya)

JAKARTA - President Director of PT Hutama Karya Budi Harto talked about the condition of the Trans Sumatra Toll Road. He explained that there were many challenges in toll road operations in the early days at this time. One of them is regarding the low toll traffic.

Budi explained that the low Trans Sumatra toll road traffic had an impact on a number of other problems. Among them are the threat of crime for toll road users.

"Therefore, we provide patrols at any time. So that toll road users will be safe from security disturbances around the toll road," he said in a virtual discussion, Wednesday, November 25.

The next challenge, said Budi, is that a number of motorists have not been able to make adjustments to the presence of this new toll road. Particularly drivers of heavy trucks or over dimension over load (ODOL) who often break into this freeway.

"The existence of large trucks, the term is ODOL, damages toll roads and also threatens the safety of toll users. Because their existence is not standard with the design of this toll road," he said.

However, Budi emphasized that Hutama Karya provided rescue, health and vehicle security facilities on the Trans Sumatra Toll Road.

Another challenge faced in building this toll road is the availability of land. Budi said, some areas are experiencing difficulties, making it wordy to get land acquisition.

"But I am grateful that many regional heads and communities support the construction of this toll road, so that the toll road land acquisition process can run quickly and smoothly," he said.

Then, he said, the problem was the weather factor. According to him, this toll road is the largest landfill work activity.

"This landfill will not be able to receive a sufficiently high water content. Therefore, the rainy weather is very disturbing to the construction of this toll road," he explained.

However, these challenges did not dampen Hutama Karya's intention to complete the Trans Sumatra Toll Road from Lampung to Aceh. Budi Harto is also committed to completing a number of additional sections of 614 km, before all of these toll roads can be fully connected by 2024.

"We are currently working on the 614 km toll road section which we will complete in 2022. I think other sections will also be started," he explained.