Minister Of PUPR Welcomes Revision Of Law No. 38/2004 To Improve Road Services

Illustration of a smooth road (Photo by Jake Blucker on Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The Minister of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) Basuki Hadimuljono revealed that the revision of Law Number 38/2004 concerning Roads, which will be ratified by the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI) later aims to improve road services.

"We have just revised Law No. 38 of 2004 concerning roads which will soon be ratified, God willing, at the Plenary Session of the DPR RI this afternoon. This is all to improve road services," Minister Basuki said at an online seminar in Jakarta, Thursday, December 16, quoted from Antara.

The Minister of PUPR hopes that with the revision of the Road Law, road governance throughout Indonesia will be much better in the future.

"We hope that with the new law, the service, implementation, management, and governance of roads will be better," he said.

Road operations also need to take into account the growing demands of the community. Therefore, the Government and the DPR have discussed the Bill on the Second Amendment to Law Number 38 of 2004 concerning Roads. These changes are made as an effort to harmonize the regulations in legal products and in accordance with the challenges of the present and future.

Broadly speaking, the points regulated in the bill include the authority to administer roads, budget, toll road concessions, land acquisition, and the role of civil servant investigators in examining allegations of crimes in the road sector.

Previously, Member of Commission V of the DPR, Suryadi Jaya Purnama, emphasized that the revision of Law No. 38/2004 concerning Roads was important to reduce regional disparities and help equitable development throughout Indonesia.

He explained that so far, both provincial and district and city governments have not been able to finance all infrastructure development in their regions. This makes road conditions in districts and provinces inversely proportional to national roads.

According to him, roads in villages, regencies, and provinces, which so far are still unfit due to the inability to finance, can be built using the state budget in the future, so that the acceleration of infrastructure and economic development in the regions can be equitable and fair.