Strengthening The Territorial Borders Of Indonesia And Papua New Guinea, The Construction Of The Papua Border Litas Road Continues

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) continues the construction of the Papua Border Road as an effort to strengthen the territorial border between the Republic of Indonesia (RI) and Papua New Guinea (PNG) for 1,098.33 km.

Director General of Highways of the Ministry of PUPR Hedy Rahadian said the construction of the Papua Border Road was divided into three segments, namely the Jayapura 1 Segment-Arso-Waris-Yeti along 127.56 Km, Segment 2 Yeti-Ubrub-Oxybil along 302.36 Km, and the 3 Oksibil-Tanah Merah-Muting-Merauke Segment along 668.41 Km.

"Currently, the physical progress of the Jayapura 1 Segment-Arso-Wiris-Yeti construction has reached 100 percent. Meanwhile, the Yeti-Ubrub-Oxybil Segment 2 has reached 49.10 percent. For the 3 Oksibil-Merauke Land Segment, it has reached 87.02 percent, so that the total border roads in Papua that have been built are 944,44 km," said Hedy in a written statement, Friday, March 31.

The implementation of the Papua border road construction in the 1-3 segment has been carried out since 2015-2022 with a budget of IDR 1.283 trillion and is targeted to complete the construction in stages with a target of completion by the end of 2024, namely Forest Roads along 146.79 KM, Jalan Tanah along 181.86 KM, and Aspal Street along 769.68 KM.

"In addition to strengthening the territorial border between countries, the construction of the Papua Border Road aims to open isolation and facilitate connectivity of regional economic centers, thereby facilitating the transportation of goods and humans which will have an impact on decreasing prices of goods and services in Papua," explained Hedy.

Hedy said that the presence of border roads and access to the border are expected to open up the isolation of areas that really help people in border areas.

"With the development of road infrastructure, basic needs will be found more easily and cheaply, thereby reducing the gap between regions in Indonesia," he said.

Until now, the construction of border roads is still a priority for the government. The Ministry of PUPR targets 3,707 km to build border roads throughout Indonesia, such as in Kalimantan, East Nusa Tenggara, and Papua to be completed by the end of 2024.

The target conditions for the construction of border roads are 1.717.66 km of asphalt, 434.97 KM of aggregate, 1,000.11 KM of land, and the possibility of leaving 198.84 KM of forest.