Post-Earthquake Recovery In Palu, Central Sulawesi, Vice President Ma'ruf Asks PUPR To First Build Connecting Roads

Vice President Ma'ruf (black skullcap) plants mahogany tree seedlings at the construction site for permanent housing for victims of the Palu disaster (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Vice President Ma'ruf Amin asked the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) to prioritize the construction of a strategic road connecting districts/cities in Palu, Central Sulawesi, as part of post-earthquake recovery.

"Strategic roads such as connecting permanent housing (huntap) for disaster victims and accessibility to support economic activities need to be prioritized in order to accelerate economic growth," said Ma'ruf during his working visit to the construction site of Huntap Tondo 2 in Palu, Antara, Thursday, January 6. .

According to Ma'ruf, strategic connecting roads play a role in supporting community mobility, in addition to facilitating access, they also cut travel distances in order to save time.

As part of accelerating post-earthquake, tsunami and liquefaction recovery in Palu City, Sigi and Donggala Regencies, this needs to be done with careful planning and infrastructure work according to applicable standards.

"PUPR as the ministry that handles infrastructure development to those assigned to the regions needs to pay attention to the quality of work," said Ma'ruf.

Head of the National Road Implementation Center XIV (BPJN XIV) Palu M Syukur said that his side carried out 14 recovery activities for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of roads and bridges after the September 28, 2018 disaster in Central Sulawesi.

Meanwhile, the financing is supported by two sources, namely the World Bank/World Bank covering the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the 56,234 kilometer Tompe-dalam Palu-Surumana road segment and the work has been completed.

"The rehabilitation and reconstruction of the Palupi-Simoro, Kalukubula-Kalawara, Biromaru-Palolo roads and access to temporary shelters have been completed through World Bank funds," said Syukur in front of the Vice President.

Then the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the 250-meter Palu four bridge, funding sources from the Japanese Government grant, which are currently still in the tender process in Japan, are being attempted in April 2022 starting the construction contract, as well as the land acquisition process is ongoing.

"The rebuilding of the four Palu bridges that collapsed due to the earthquake is targeted until 2024," Syukur added.

He detailed, the target for the handling of roads in the three affected areas, Palu City, the length of road infrastructure handling is approximately 84,988 kilometers, then approximately 39,268 kilometers have been completed, then 0.7 kilometers of roads are under construction and 45.02 kilometers have not been completed. .

Likewise for Sigi Regency, 42.31 kilometers of roads have been completed, while those that are still in process are approximately 16,847 kilometers and have not been completed, approximately 32.3 kilometers of the total length of the National road handled by BPJN XIV Palu, which is 91.71 kilometers.

"The total length of the national road we have handled in Donggala is approximately 22,247 kilometers, of which 16,847 kilometers have been completed, while in the work stage it is approximately 1.4 kilometers and 4 kilometers of roads have not been completed," said Syukur.