In the construction of a parallel border road in Kalimantan, the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) collaborates with the Directorate of Engineers of the Indonesian Army. Especially for the parallel border road in West Kalimantan (West Kalimantan) of the total 850 Km built, 520 Km including land clearing for the road bordering with Malaysia was carried out by Zeni TNI-AD.

Director of Road Development, Directorate General (DG) Bina Marga Achmad Gani Ghazali Akman said, the construction of parallel border roads is an embodiment of the Government's Nawa Cita, primarily to improve accessibility, connectivity and defense and security. According to him, Zeni's involvement in the construction of border roads was partly based on the consideration of the TNI being more durable to be in the field and better understanding the terrain.

"We must be aware of the challenges of building a border road, the terrain is splitting mountains and combing hills in the forest, for that we hold the TNI-AD," said Gani on the sidelines of media assistance to the West Kalimantan parallel road on April 26-28.

Deputy Director of the Army Engineer Yohanes Dwi Prasetyo explained, according to the mutual agreement, his party only assisted the Directorate General of Highways to clear land with a width of 25 meters complete with drainage channels on either side, followed by a pavement phase. The collaboration between DGH and Zeni has been ongoing since 2015.

"We, the TNI, also need this border road to be connected, especially in the context of maintaining security and security. Before before there was a way, to connect one of our guard posts with another guard post could take 1.5 - 2 days, now after the road takes only a few hours, "he said.

Head of the National Road Implementation Center (BBPJN) Region XI Sugiyartanto said, in the 2017 fiscal year, Zeni was assigned to help clear land on the 82 km West Kalimantan border road. For each Km, land clearing done by them requires funds of Rp 2-3 billion.

"That's the range, because it opens mountains and combs hills, it's different (funding requirements), even more so if there are people in the field who need a bridge. This year, we allocate Rp202 billion for the work done by Zeni, "explained Sugiyartanto.

He added, the work carried out by the TNI in several places did not meet criteria such as the maximum geometric grade of roads by 10 percent. Sugiyartanto stressed, when talking about the construction of border roads is different from building roads in other regions that have emphasized the comfort and safety aspects of motorists.

The parallel border road in West Kalimantan is targeted to be open and connected by the end of 2019. Of the 850 Km of the road, conditions as of the end of 2016 there are still 188 Km of which are still forest conditions. Gradually, the Directorate General of Highways conducts border road construction. At the end of this year, the total number of unconnected roads is planned to be reduced to 107 Km. (Kompu BM)