Inaugurating The Bengkulu-Taba Tanjung Toll Road Worth IDR 4.8 T, Jokowi: Accelerate Economic Growth

President Joko Widodo inaugurated the Bengkulu-Taba Penanjung Toll Road directed by PT Hutama Karya (Persero). (Photo: Doc. Presidential Secretariat)

JAKARTA - President of the Republic of Indonesia Joko Widodo directly inaugurated the Bengkulu-Taba Penjung Toll Road directed by PT Hutama Karya (Persero) at the Bengkulu Toll Gate, Thursday, July 20.

The inauguration of the first toll road on Earth Rafflesia was marked by the beating of the Bengkulu 'King Dol' musical instrument and continued with the signing of the inscription by President Jokowi.

In his remarks, Jokowi said the Bengkulu-Taba Penjung Toll Road would support logistics mobility, people's mobility, and would create new economic growth points.

"Alhamdulillah, this morning the Bengkulu-Taba Tanjung Toll Road will operate with a total length that has been completed, which is 16.7 km, spending a budget of IDR 4.8 trillion, this is part of the Bengkulu section to Lubuk Linggau," Jokowi said in an official statement, Thursday.

"We hope that the completion of this toll road will accelerate economic growth, the mobility of people and goods, and we hope this can improve the welfare of our people, because Bengkulu competitiveness will definitely improve better. By saying Bismillairrahmanirrahim. This morning I inaugurate the Bengkulu-Taba Penjung Toll Road in Bengkulu City," he continued.

The construction of the toll road in Bengkulu is a form of government support in increasing economic growth on the island of Sumatra.

This is so that land access is easier and more affordable.

The Bengkulu-Taba Tanjung Toll Road is part of the feeder of the JTTS network along approximately 98 km which is divided into 2 stages. For stage 1 Bengkulu-Taba Penjung with a total length of 16.7 km and has been operating since the end of 2022, and stage 2 Lubuk Linggau-Taba Penjung (80 km) which is included in stage IV of JTTS development according to Presidential Decree No. 131 of 2022.

Executive Vice President (EVP) Corporate Secretary Hutama Karya Tjahjo Purnomo said this toll road has a planned speed of 80 km per hour, people can save travel time from 1 hour to approximately 15 minutes from Bengkulu to Taba Penanjung.

"Not only cutting travel times, toll roads that divide the path area of this row hill can also be an option for commodity products and access to various tourism objects that have historical value, such as the Bung Karno Refugee House," explained Tjahjo.

Meanwhile, the enthusiasm of the public in welcoming the presence of this toll road can also be seen from the accumulation of Traffic Volume (VLL) for vehicles that have crossed the toll road reaching more than 40,000 vehicles both during the homecoming and backflow of Lebaran in April.

This strengthens the company's commitment to providing optimal service to toll road drivers.

The construction of the toll road, which has been operating since the second quarter of 2022, was carried out by a subsidiary of Hutama Karya, namely PT Hutama Karya Infrastruktur (HKI) since last September 2019, and was successfully completed in March 2022.

As for the development stage, the HKI implements various construction digitization technologies.

"To support the development of more efficient projects, HKI implements Building Information Modelling (BIM) technology and photogration that can help provide real-time physical conditions for toll projects on a visual 3D basis, making it easier to monitor project progress," explained HKI President Director Aji Prasetyanti.

Aji also explained in more detail the challenges faced by HKI in the toll road construction process such as topographic tract conditions have tough terrain challenges, thus requiring the team to'split the hill' with a height of up to 40 meters and build bridges and pile slabs to cross valleys and rivers.

As for preventing loss, the HKI has also implemented a number of methods, including on slopes, which are made a trap system and treatment with solitary coiling. In addition, planting vegetation, hydroseeding, and vetivers is also carried out to prevent erosion on the surface of the slope due to rainfall.

"Slank protection must be carried out in the Bengkulu-Taba Penjung Toll Road project to prevent erosion that has the potential to disrupt toll road operations," he said.

In the process of building the Bengkulu-Taba Penanjung Toll Road, the HKI involved local workers by 60 percent. The synergy between local and national resources is the foundation of development so that the Bengkulu-Taba Penanjung Toll Road can be completed properly and usefully for the community.

To date, Hutama Karya has built a Trans Sumatra Toll Road (JTTS) for approximately 1,021.5 km, including construction support toll roads. For the Construction toll road, 411.5 km and 610 km of the Operations toll road.

The sections that have fully operated include the Bakauheni-Terbanggi Besar (141 km) Toll Road, the Terbanggi Besar-Pematang Panggang-Kayu Agung (189 km) Toll Road, Palembang-Indralaya Toll Road (22 km), Medan Binjai Toll Road (17 km), Pekanbaru-Dumai Toll Road (132 km), Sigli Banda Aceh Toll Road Section 2 6 (50 km) and Binjai-Langsa Section 1 (12 km) Toll Road, Bengkulu-Taba Penjung (18 km) Toll Road. ) and Pekanbaru-Bangkinang Toll Road (31 km).