Ministry Of PUPR Accelerates Bengkulu Toll Road Construction, Minister Basuki: To Cut Travel Time And Lower Logistics Costs

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing or PUPR encourages the acceleration of the Bengkulu toll road in order to improve the regional economy and tourist connectivity.

"The presence of the toll road will reduce logistics costs and reduce travel time for the distribution of goods and services between regions. In addition, it will encourage the growth of new economic centers, especially areas around toll road on/off ramps," said PUPR Minister Basuki Hadimuljono in a statement. written, quoted from Antara, Monday, March 14.

According to the Minister of PUPR, his party continues to accelerate infrastructure development that connects production centers, areas that have great potential to be developed and open new business opportunities, create jobs, and accelerate added value for the people's economy. One of them is through the construction of toll roads.

One of the toll roads currently being built by the PUPR Ministry is the 95.8 km Lubuk Linggau - Curup - Bengkulu Toll Road which is part of the Trans Sumatra Toll Road. The section which is managed by the Toll Road Business Entity (BUJT) PT Hutama Karya (Persero) is divided into 3 sections, namely Section 1 Lubuk Linggau - Kepahiang (54.5 Km), Section 2 Kepahiang - Taba Penanjung (23.7 Km), and Section 3 Taba Penanjung - Bengkulu (17.6 Km).

"The construction progress of Section 3 of the Taba Penanjung - Bengkulu section has reached 96.51 percent and is targeted in the near future in the first quarter of 2022 the construction will be completed and can be operated. Sections 1 and 2 are currently still in the preparation stage," said Minister Basuki.

The Minister of PUPR hopes that the regional government, businessmen and the community can optimally take advantage of the existence of the toll road which is integrated with the development of the Baai Port to develop the regional economy and increase the connectivity of tourists visiting Bengkulu.

"After this toll road is operational, later drivers will only take 1-2 hours of travel from Lubuk Linggau to reach Bengkulu City. The presence of this toll road will also open up economic potential in the Lubuk Linggau area, which is between Palembang and Bengkulu," he said.

For information, the 2,837 km Trans Sumatra Toll Road which was built by the PUPR Ministry consists of a 1,913 km main or backbone toll road and a 924 km fin or feeder toll road.

The Trans Sumatra backbone toll road that has been operating for 531 km is the Bakauheni-Terbanggi Besar toll road (141 km), Terbanggi Besar-Pematang Panggang-Kayu Agung (189 km), Kayu Agung-Palembang (38 km), Pekanbaru-Dumai (132 km). ), Medan-Binjai (17 km), and Sigli-Banda Aceh section 4 (14 km).

Meanwhile, the Trans Sumatra Toll Road which is under construction for 486 km includes the Kisaran-Indrapura Toll Road (48 km), the Binjai-Langsa Toll Road segment Binjai-Pangkalan Brandan (58 km), and the Lubuk Linggau - Curup - Bengkulu Toll Road along the 95.8 km.