Construction Of The Betung Ship Toll Road Targeted By Kelar In The Third Quarter Of 2023

Photos of the air at the intersection of the Trans Sumatra Toll Road in the Palembang Kayu Agung Betung (Betung Ship) section, Ogan Komering Ilir (OKI), South Sumatra. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

PT Waskita Toll Road (WTR) is accelerating the completion of the Kayu Agung-Palembang-Betung (Betung Ship) toll road construction which is targeted for completion in the third quarter of 2023.

WTR President Director Rudi Purnomo said the construction of the Betung Ship Toll Road was one of the realizations of the absorption of State Capital Participation (PMN) funds received by PT Waskita Karya (Persero) Tbk.

The Betung Ship toll road received funds from PMN in 2021 of IDR 3 trillion, as well as investment loan facilities from creditors of IDR 2.9 trillion in June 2022.

"At the end of this year, with the 2022 PMN that Waskita will receive, the Betung Ship toll road will again receive PMN funds worth IDR 2 trillion. With these funds, all financing needs of IDR 7.9 trillion have been met, so the company is optimistic that it can complete the Betung Ship toll road according to the target," said Rudi, quoted from Antara, Thursday, November 10.

He believes that the completion of the Betung Ship Toll Road construction can contribute to Waskita's financial restructuring.

"In addition, the completion of the Betung Ship toll road is a realization of WTR's support for the government's program, namely building an integrated toll road in Trans Sumatra," explained Rudi.

President Director of PT Waskita Sriwijaya Tol (WST) Herwidiakto, who is a Toll Road Business Entity (BUJT) owner of the Betung Ship toll road concession, explained that the progress of the construction of the Betung Ship toll road phase II has reached 48.34 percent and is targeted for completion of construction in the third quarter of 2023.

The operation will be carried out in stages, where the first stage is the Rengas River Segment-Pangkalan Balai in the first quarter of 2023.

In addition to toll roads, WST will also build rest and service facilities (TIP) or Rest Areas.

"We plan to build TIP which is spread over six points on the Betung Ship toll road, where the first phase of the TIP will be built at KM 360 B which is targeted to be completed by pepper Nataru in 2022," explained Herwidiakto.

The Kayu Agung-Palembang-Betung toll road has a total length of 111.69 km consisting of two stages, namely Phase I (Kayu Agung-Kramasan) and Phase II (Kramasan-Betung), which are currently accelerating construction.

The Betung Ship toll road has been operating partially since April 2020.

Later, when operating fully, the toll road, which is part of the Trans Sumatra toll road, can cut the travel time from Kayu Agung to Betung to 90 to 120 minutes, from the previous approximately 5 hours, so that it can be an alternative to the East Sumatra national road, as well as a link to the east and central routes of Sumatra which are classified as dense.

In addition, the position of the Betung Ship toll road which is integrated with the main route of the Trans Sumatra toll road and the Trans Sumatra fin line can directly help accelerate the distribution flow and pace of the economy in Sumatra.