Budgeting IDR 14.6 Trillion, Ministry Of PUPR Starts Repairing Regional Roads June-July 2023

Illustration of road construction. (Photo via ANTARA PHOTO/Harviyan Perdana Putra/YU.fer)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) targets that road construction in the regions will begin to be handled, in June-July 2023, in accordance with Presidential Instruction (Inpres) No. 3 of 2023 concerning Accelerating Improvement of Regional Road Connectivity.

Director General of Highways of the Ministry of PUPR Hedy Rahadian said that the acceleration of handling road and bridge embankments is prioritized in areas that have a low level of stability, especially for levers of economic growth and increased access to isolation.

"The priority section criteria must definitely be damaged, support economic growth centers, and prioritize connectivity with toll roads," Hedy said in a written statement, Saturday, May 20.

"Then, there are also several strategic industrial areas such as Morowali, Konawe, Weda Bay, and Tanjung Selor to anticipate the growth of slum areas. In essence, we improve the connectivity of regional roads so that they connect with the national road backbone," said Hedy.

Regarding funding for regional road construction, Hedy said, there are three supporting instruments that include the Special Allocation Fund (DAK), government assistance from the regular APBN, and the last one through the Presidential Instruction which is more top down.

Currently, the budget allocation is planned to accelerate the increase in regional road connectivity, which is IDR 32.79 trillion.

"The acceleration of increasing connectivity will continue in 2024. Meanwhile, the total budget allocated for the first phase on regional roads that we will soon carry out construction this year is IDR 14.6 trillion, and we hope that July can start or if possible June," said Hedy.

Furthermore, said Hedy, the preparation for handling the regional road must go through several stages ranging from planning, selection, verification, then priority determination, to budgeting.

This also applies to regional roads that will be handled by the Ministry of PUPR this year. "The priority criteria and readiness criteria must be appropriate. Such as the design is ready, the land is not problematic, and adequate environmental documents. The main thing is also those that support economic growth centers, industrial estates, and special areas such as IKN," concluded Hedy.