The Government Prepares Four Toll Roads to Have a Function as an Emergency Runway for Fighter Aircraft

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Public Works (PU) is designing dual functions on four strategic toll roads so that they can be used as emergency runways for the Indonesian Air Force (TNI AU) fighter aircraft.

This step is part of efforts to strengthen national defense as well as optimizing the function of connectivity infrastructure built by the government.

Minister PU Dody Hanggodo explained that the construction of the toll road network not only focuses on the smoothness of logistics and community mobility, but is also designed to support national readiness.

"The use of the toll road as an emergency basis shows that the infrastructure built by the Ministry of PU has a dual function, not only for community mobility and logistics, but also supports national readiness," said Dody in a written statement, Thursday, July 23.

The four toll roads that have been prepared have dual functions, including the Banda Aceh-Sigli Toll Road, the Jakarta-Cikampek II South Toll Road (Japek II South), the Terbanggi Besar-Pematang Panggang-Kayu Agung Toll Road, and the Probolinggo-Banyuwangi Toll Road.

Each section is designed with special technical specifications to be able to withstand the load and landing characteristics of fighter jets without interfering with its main function in normal conditions.

The government also adjusted the length of the straight track on several sections, such as the Banda Aceh-Sigli Toll Road and the South Japek II Toll Road which was extended to a range of 3.5 kilometers.

"Banda Aceh-Sigli is also being prepared. In normal conditions, the section is still used as a toll road. However, in emergency conditions it can be opened and used for landing and take-off of TNI AU fighter aircraft," he said.

The readiness of the toll road infrastructure as an emergency runway was previously tested directly on the Terpeka Toll Road in mid-February 2026.

At that time, two types of fighter aircraft belonging to the Indonesian Air Force, namely the EMB-314 Super Tucano and F-16 successfully carried out landing and take-off scenarios in the KM 228 to KM 231 segment.

Through the success of the trial, the Ministry of PU assessed that the concept of dual utilization reflects the optimization of the value of investment in national infrastructure assets for the defense sector.