The construction of the Soreang-Pasir Koja toll road in Bandung Regency starts today. The 8.15 Km toll road is the supporting infrastructure for the XVI National Sports Week (PON) which will be held in West Java in September 2016.

The construction of the Soreang-Pasir Koja toll road is marked by a groundbreaking conducted by the Minister of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) Basuki Hadimuljono in Bandung, Thursday (10/9). Basuki said that the Soreang-Pasir Koja toll road would connect the city of Bandung and the regency of Bandung and be connected to the Padalarang-Cileunyi toll road.

"The potentials that exist in Bandung Regency, especially the potential in the tourism sector can be maximized so that Bandung Regency can become the new belle of tourism in West Java," explained Basuki.

The toll road, with an investment value of Rp 1.51 trillion, is expected to stimulate businesses to invest, as happened after the construction of the Cikopo-Palimanan toll road, at this time many business support facilities have been built in the region.

For information, the Soreang-Pasir Koja Toll Road Concession Agreement (PPJT) was signed on September 4, 2015. The Minister of PUPR expressed his appreciation to PT Citra Marga Lintas Jabar as the toll road business entity (BUJT) for the toll road section which has committed to start the implementation of road construction although this land acquisition has not been completed yet.

Director General (Dirjen) of Bina Marga Hediyanto Husaini explained, currently the progress of the acquisition of the Soreang-Pasir Koja toll road is already 87 percent. The acceleration of land acquisition is important in order to achieve the target of operation of the toll road ahead of PON XVI. In addition, the existence of the toll road is expected to overcome congestion in the South Bandung area such as the Kopo area.

"I'm sure all of us, including the people of Bandung, definitely want the toll road construction to be finished quickly, because of that the land problem must be completed so as not to interfere with construction," said Hediyanto.

The toll road is expected to be the best quality toll road by paying attention to safety, comfort, and also the environment so that it can be used as an example for the construction of other toll roads, not only in Indonesia but also internationally.

On the same occasion, the Director General of Highways also conveyed groundbreaking plans for a number of other toll roads by the end of 2015. Some other toll roads that will soon be built are Cileunyi-Sumedang-Dawuan, Pemalang-Batang, Gempol-Pasuruan, Balikpapan-Samarinda and Manado- Bitung

"All of this is as a form of government efforts to improve regional connectivity, which in turn encourages the welfare of the people and increases Indonesia's competitiveness," continued Hediyanto.