Yogja-Bawen Toll is Targeted to be Opened Functionally During Eid

BAWEN - The government through the Ministry of Public Works (PU) targets that part of the Yogyakarta-Bawen Toll Road can operate during the upcoming Lebaran homecoming.

This is to disperse traffic density and support economic movement in the Central Java and Yogyakarta regions.

Minister of Public Works Dody Hanggodo said that along the approximately 4 kilometer toll road in the Yogyakarta area, it is targeted that it can be functionally passed, especially at the bottleneck point which has been a bottleneck during the long holiday season.

"The target is that Lebaran can be functional. The bottleneck is at the intersection, and hopefully with the flyover, the density below can be reduced," he told reporters, Saturday, December 21.

The functional road is expected to be able to divert vehicle traffic from and to the Jakarta area and its surrounding areas directly to Magelang and Bawen, so that traffic distribution is more even.

This step is considered important, considering the surge in vehicle volume during Lebaran is much larger than the Christmas and New Year's holiday period (Nataru).

Overall, the Jogja-Bawen toll road project has a total length of around 27 kilometers which is divided into six sections and is targeted to be completed by the end of 2026.

Currently, the progress of construction on one of the strategic sections, including the one crossing the Mangkrul channel, has reached about 88 percent and continues to be rushed so that it can be utilized during Lebaran.

The main challenge of development is in the middle section, especially in the Magelang-Temanggung area which has a hilly contour.

The construction process in the area requires extra caution because it involves dredging hills and considering environmental impacts.

"For sections 4 and 5, it is indeed slowing down because of the hilly terrain. We must ensure that development does not cause long-term environmental impacts," he explained.

In terms of land acquisition, the government ensures that there are no significant obstacles to date.

Meanwhile, the weather factor is still possible even though it has slowed down the progress of the work.

Furthermore, Dody stated that the readiness of national toll road infrastructure to face Nataru was in the range of 95 percent.

The government has also prepared a number of additional functional toll roads and optimized rest areas for the convenience of road users.

"For Nataru it is relatively safe, but our main focus is Lebaran because the burden is much greater. We have prepared several functional sections and rest areas as part of the anticipation," he said.

The functional operation of the Jogja-Bawen Toll Road is believed to not only have an impact on the smoothness of the homecoming flow, but also provide a multiplier effect for the regional economy, especially the logistics, tourism, and trade sectors during the long holiday period.