Home > News and Opportunities

News and Opportunities

---

Toll Areas for Trans-Java to be Acquired in 2012

Toll Road Project Evaluation to be Made in Less than 9 Months

JAKARTA: Land acquisition for the 500 km trans-Java toll road project is targeted to be completed in 24 months.

The acceleration is also made in the evaluation of economic feasibility and the capacity of toll road business agency in funding projects, which is targeted to be achieved in less than nine months.

"We will follow the land acquisition regulation [Minister of Public Works Regulation]. If it can be completed in less than nine months, it will be better," said Minister of Public Works Djoko Kirmanto last week.

The requirement of acquiring lands in less than nine months is inked in Minister of Public Works 06/2010 on Guide to Toll Road Procurement Evaluation.

He asserted the government measure of evaluating 20 toll road operators that had signed toll road procurement agreement contracts didn't aim at terminating contract agreements (PPJT) with toll road business agencies (BUJT).

"The evaluation doesn't mean we will terminate the contract. We'll certainly look into the project economic feasibility as well as business agency equities. Whether they need government support or other investors, we'll see," he told the press last week/
Djoko admitted to delay in toll road construction, adding that it was attributable to various technical problems, especially those related to land acquisition.

He continued there were indications of some investors not serious in working on the trans-Java toll road project.
However, he declined to mention the names of the investors.

"There are some investors that are toying around with the projects. Some offer the projects to other investors, making the land acquisition process stagnant. That's why we need to prove the investors' capability."

Although the trans-Java toll road was prioritized, Djoko added other roads that had not showed satisfactory construction progress would be given the same evaluation portion.

"If the evaluation can be accelerated, why should we wait for nine months? Although we prioritize to evaluate the trans-Java toll road, it doesn't mean we don't pay attention to other roads," he said.

Eight toll roads in the trans-Java road project are awaiting the progress. Of the eight roads, only the Semarang-Solo toll road has started construction, but not all of the sections have been completely built.

In the meantime, the 177 km-long Solo-Kertosono toll road is going to be built by the government with financing from South Korea.
 

Discuss evaluation
Last week, Djoko held a special meeting to discuss the acceleration of joint evaluation with Deputy Minister of Public Works Hermanto Dardak and the Toll Road Regulatory Agency (BPJT).

Before the meeting, Head of the BPJT Nurdin Manurung admitted the evaluation of 4 toll roads would be accelerated.
The evaluation covers 20 toll roads that have signed PPJT and four roads that have not signed PPJT.

"We want the evaluation to be brief. If it can be done in one day, why should we wait for months?" he said smilingly when intercepted by the government.

Data by the BPJT showed the government spent IDR16.23 trillion on toll road construction facility consisting of IDR1.83 trillion in public service agency fund and IDR14.4 trillion in government support fund.

PT Bakrieland Development Plc, through subsidiary PT Bakrie Toll Road, holds concessions for three trans-Java toll roads, namely the Semarang-Batang, Pemalang-Pejagan and Kanci-Pejagan toll roads.

Of the three toll roads, only the Kanci-Pejagan toll road has completed the construction and has started operation in earlier 2010.
President Director & CEO of PT Bakrieland Development Plc Hiramsyah S. Thaib revealed the company still had the commitment to complete the 57.5 km-long Pejagan-Pemalang toll road.

According to the plan, the toll road would start construction in the second quarter of 2011 after the land acquisition process was fully completed this year.

"At the moment, the land acquisition for the Pejagan-Pemalang toll road has reached 70%. We target to complete it this year, so the project can start construction in mid-2011."

The entire trans-Java road, he added, had the PPJT contracts signed since 2006, while the toll roads that the government would construct, namely the Solo-Kertosono toll road, consisted of two toll roads, namely the 90 km-long Solo-Ngawi toll road and the 87-km long Ngawi-Kertosono toll road. (Bisnis/09)

http://www.bisnis.com/pls/bisnis/bisnis.cetak?inw_id=740520
 

[Last update: 2010-06-28 11:03:18]