Jalan Layang Simpang Mal Ramayana Tanjungpinang City Operates At The End Of January 2023

Photo: Doc. Antara

JAKARTA - Governor of the Riau Islands (Kepri) Ansar Ahmad said the flyover at the Ramayana Mall intersection in Tanjungpinang City began operating at the end of January 2023.

"The work has been completed. It's just finishing," he said in Tanjungpinang, quoted from Antara, Sunday, January 15.

He said the main purpose of the flyover was to build a solution to overcome congestion at the Ramayana Mall intersection towards the head office of the Riau Islands Provincial Government on Dompak Island.

In addition, he said, the existence of the physical infrastructure is also increasingly beautifying the face of the Riau Islands provincial capital, Tanjungpinang.

This is also in line with Ansar's efforts to make Tanjungpinang better known outside the region, because so far there is still an assumption that Tanjungpinang is Pangkal Pinang, the capital city of Bangka Belitung Province.

"Hopefully the benefits can be felt by the community, and on the other hand, the face of our capital can be seen by investors as an investment opportunity," said Ansar.

The Tanjungpinang flyover is one of Governor Ansar's strategic projects in 2022 with a total budget of IDR 60 billion. The entire budget is sourced from loan funds from PT Sarana Multi Infrastruktur (SMI), a State-Owned Enterprise (BUMN) under the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia.

The project was carried out by contractor PT Pandji Bangun Persada from Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, from March 2022 until the end of December 2022.

"The length is about 450 meters, consisting of two opposite routes," said Ansar.

One of the residents of Tanjungpinang, Defri, was enthusiastic about welcoming the operation of the flyover at the Ramayana Mall intersection, because he would avoid congestion problems that often occur before the project was built, especially during working hours.

"This area used to be prone to traffic accidents. But now there is no need to worry anymore, flyovers are now the solution," he said.