Barriers To Building The Trans Sumatra Toll Road: Pass Elephant Conservation To Crime

Trans Sumatra toll road. (Photo: Hutama Karya)

JAKARTA - The government has assigned PT Hutama Karya (Persero) to complete the construction of the Trans-Sumatra Toll Road (JTTS) with a total length of 2,765 kilometers (km) by 2024. Various obstacles were encountered in the development process.

Head of the General Section of the Toll Road Regulatory Agency (BPJT) Mahbullah Nurdin said the government and Hutama Karya have a target for the Trans Sumatra Toll Road to be completely connected by 2024.

"We hope Hutama Karya can finish it on time. We are still optimistic that 2024 will be connected," he said in a virtual discussion, Wednesday, November 25.

Nurdin said the presence of the Trans Sumatra Toll Road was highly anticipated. This is because this toll road is capable of having a double effect on the surrounding economy and nationally. Moreover, with this toll road travel time will be shorter.

"In the past, there were no toll roads from Bakauheni to Palembang, it could take 12 hours, now it doesn't take up to 5 hours. This means that this is an assignment that is really carried out by Hutama Karya whose shares are 100 percent owned by the government," he said.

The toll road from Kayu Agung to Jakabaring, said Nurdin, has been completed by Waskita Karya. This means that Bakauheni to Palembang is already connected.

As of October 2020, there are nine Trans-Sumatra Toll Road (JTTS) sections that have been operating. The nine sections are the Bakauheni-Terbanggi Besar (Bacter) Toll Road, which is 140 kilometers long, the Terbanggi Besar-Pematang Panggang-Kayu Agung (Terpeka) Toll Road is 189 kilometers long, and the Kayu Agung-Jakabaring Toll Road 33 kilometers long.

Then the Palembang-Simpang Indralaya Toll Road, 22 kilometers long, Medan-Binjai Toll Road 13 kilometers, Medan-Kualanamu-Tebing Tinggi Toll Road 62 kilometers, Belawan-Medan-Tanjung Morawa Toll Road along 43 kilometers.

Then the Aceh-Sigli Section IV toll road along 14 kilometers and the Pekanbaru-Dumai toll road along 131 kilometers have also been operating.

Barriers to Building the Trans Sumatra Toll Road

Nurdin admitted that the obstacles faced in the construction of the Trans Sumatra Toll Road were indeed different from the Trans Java Toll Road project. One of the obstacles is the land that will be used to build toll lanes.

"Obstacles certainly exist, such as land constraints. Here we have to coordinate with the local government. Also, many of these lands have conservation areas. Like Pekanbaru-Dumai, we pass the toll road through animal conservation," he said.

However, he said, this obstacle could be resolved by innovating the elephant tunnel construction. Because, this route is indeed the route normally used by elephants to migrate.

"The route is there. So that we cannot block or cut off the route. Finally, we and Hutama Karya agreed to make the route (elephant tunnel). These are the innovations that might (solve) the obstacles that exist in Trans Sumatra, "he said.

On the same occasion, the President Director of PT Hutama Karya Budi Harto talked about the condition of the Trans Sumatra Toll Road. He explained that many obstacles were experienced 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.

Not only that, said Budi, a number of motorists have not been able to make adjustments to the presence of this new toll road. In particular, heavy transport truck drivers or Over Dimension Over Load (ODOL) who often break into this freeway.

"The existence of large trucks, the term is ODOL, over dimension over load, this 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.

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Another obstacle faced in building this toll road is the availability of land. Budi said, some areas were experiencing difficulties and it was lengthy to get land acquisition.

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

Then, he said, another thing that became an obstacle 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.

Employers Propose Sanctions for Violating Trucks

Chairman of the Indonesian Truck Entrepreneurs Association (Aptrindo), Gemilang Tarigan, admitted that there were many violations committed by users of the Trans Sumatra toll road. In particular, the trucks are overloaded or over dimension over load (ODOL).

Tarigan said the violation had seriously endangered the safety of Trans Sumatra toll road users. Given that generally toll road users often travel at high speeds because of the smooth terrain and traffic that is not yet busy.

Furthermore, he said the violation was inseparable from weak supervision by officers in the field.

"Weak lack of supervision (officers). As a result, these trucks operating loads up to twice the load. This is a fact," he said, in a virtual discussion, Wednesday, November 25.

Trans Sumatra Toll Road. (Photo: Doc. Hutama Karya)

Therefore, Tarigan suggested that the sanctions be imposed electronically for heavy truck drivers who frequently cross the Trans Sumatra toll road. The goal is to close the space for bribery against field officers.

"This is an electronic sanction aimed at avoiding thugs or unscrupulous officers from levies on ODOL. So it is necessary to coordinate the government and related stakeholders for this overloaded truck for the safety of toll users (Trans Sumatra)," he said.

Not only sanctions, Tarigan also asked toll road managers to provide automatic toll gates (GTO) equipped with certain technology to anticipate overloaded trucks. "So that overloaded trucks can be removed and prosecuted for a deterrent effect," he explained.

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