Inaugurating The New Otista Bridge, Jokowi: Congestion In Bogor City Is Unraveled

President Jokowi was accompanied by Bogor Mayor Bima Arya Sugiarto when inaugurating the Otista Bridge, at the location, Tuesday (19/12/2023). (ANTARA)

BOGOR - President of the Republic of Indonesia Joko Widodo inaugurated the new 22-meter-wide Otto Iskandar Dinata Bridge (Otista) with a budget of IDR 101 billion on the one-way system (SSA) route that surrounds the Bogor Palace, the center of government, and the business area of Bogor City, West Java.

President Jokowi accompanied by Mayor of Bogor Bima Arya Sugiarto, Minister of Home Affairs Tito Karnavian, Acting Governor of West Java Bey Machmudin, and Governor of West Java 2018-2023 Ridwan Kamil arrived at the Otista Bridge area towards Tugu Kujang was greeted by a choir of the song Sundanese Mojang Priangan at 9.50 WIB.

The president then took to the bottom of the bridge to see the curvature, which was a construction during the Dutch colonial period, which used to support the bridge body, has now been changed only as a tourist attraction.

President Jokowi was welcomed by Deputy Mayor of Bogor, Dedie Abdul Rachim, and the Bogor City government in front of the inauguration stage of the new Otista Bridge building which passed the load test in early December 2023.

Furthermore, the President listened to the Bogor Mayor Bima Arya's report that the revitalization of the Otista Bridge along with the renovation of pedestrians around SSA was indeed directed by President Jokowi, one of which was to be able to carry out residents' activities.

"By saying Bismillahirrahmanirrahim, this morning I inaugurate the Otto Iskandardinata Bridge in Bogor City," said the President, quoted by ANTARA, Tuesday, December 19.

President Jokowi when interviewed after the inauguration said the Otista Bridge was a traffic block in Bogor City, so it needed to be widened.

"Now we see, it's more than enough," he said.

The President assessed that the view below the bridge on the curvature area is quite good as a new tourist attraction for local residents. The Otista Bridge is above the Ciliwung River which connects the East Bogor District with Central Bogor.

"I caught him, I looked down earlier, what is the view of the curvature," he said.

The Bogor City Government designed the Otista Bridge building which had just been revitalized to last 80 years to 100 years, like the previous building carried out by the Dutch colonial government hundreds of years ago.

The bridge's new construction has gone through careful calculations including its resistance to loads and vibrations over the next 100 years.

The results of deliberations with various parties, the Bogor City Government took the option to maintain the bridge curvature of the Dutch colonial period as a form of daytage.

The Otista Bridge, which was originally a traffic block in the one-way system (SSA) route in the city center, has now been widened to 22 meters with a bridge body covering an area of 17 meters and the rest is pedestrians. This revitalization project uses the West Java Province aid budget of IDR 101 billion.

There was an increase in the bridge body as high as 1.8 meters, so the Otista bridge building only had a slope of 5 degrees.

The arch, which originally supported the Otista bridge for hundreds of years, will now be used as a new tourist attraction in Bogor City.

The Otista Bridge structure is also designed to withstand the burden of tram transportation modes which are projected to become a future mode of transportation in Bogor City, so that bridges can withstand vibrations and high tonnage. Currently, the tram channel on the bridge body is temporarily closed with hotmixes.