The construction of the holtekamp bridge in Jayapura, Papua is entering an important phase in the form of lifting the first phase of the center span (lifting center span). Today, Wednesday (21/2) in the Hamadi Bay of Jayapura, a follow-up process was carried out, witnessed by Director General of Highways Arie Setiadi Moerwanto and Head of Research and Development Agency (Balitbang) of the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) Danis Hidayat Sumadilaga.

Arie explained, the lifting center span procession amid the elevated and high-risk moratorium on construction work does not mean that it violates the Minister of PUPR's provisions. He stressed, this appointment was the first construction activity carried out with great regard to the conditions requested by the Minister of PUPR. In the aftermath of several failures or omissions in elevated construction, since Tuesday (20/2) the Minister of PUPR temporarily suspended (moratorium) all elevated construction works with difficulty and high risk including construction of toll roads and long span bridges.

"In order to be able to continue the elevated work, the person in charge of the work and the executor of the work requested that we re-design the work method and method to obtain approval from the Bridge and Tunnel Road Safety Committee and the Construction Safety Commission," said the Director General of Highways.

"This process has been carried out since this morning together with the Head of Research and Development Agency, and thank God this was the first to get approval from the KKJTJ and the K2 Commission. This is the procedure that we must follow, we re-check everything in detail, we re-set it up, because this the lifting program which was originally planned at 8 am (to be) was a bit late for almost 2 hours, "he continued.

Lifting the middle span of the holtekamp bridge is a follow-up process after after the center span produced by the PT PAL Surabaya manufacturer traveled 3,200 Km to Jayapura. With a total weight of 2,000 tons, the center span spends 19 days of sea travel. Head of the Jayapura XVIII National Road Implementation Agency (BBPJN) Osman Harianto Marbun revealed, the holtekamp is a dream bridge for the people of Jayapura and also the Regional Government.

"There are four backgrounds of the importance of the holtekamp bridge, which is due to limited land use for settlements so that it needs to expand to the Koya region, shorten travel time to the city of Jayapura and the country's border areas, Jayapura's new icon as well as tourism potential and the fourth means to support the National Sports Week at 2020 in Jayapura, "Osman said.

While Bridge Director Iwan Zarkasi emphasized that the aspect of innovation was the added value of the bridge holtekamp. the bridge which was originally going to be built by cablestay technique, but due to the limited area of the land where it works and the limited equipment in its implementation has changed with the workmanship in the middle span of the manufacturer in Surabaya. delivery center span with a length of 112 meters carried out by sea into a separate story.

With this method, even the Indonesian Record Museum (MURI) awarded two records in relation to the holtekamp bridge. The first record is the delivery of the steel frame bridge intact with the furthest distance. while the second record is the installation of a steel frame bridge with the longest intact form. According to Iwan, the acquisition of the MURI record was not the goal of the Directorate General. But he was still grateful for the appreciation as a beautiful memory from the construction of the 732 meter bridge.

The Bridge Director added that innovation by creating a center span at the plant makes the construction process on the ground faster. in addition to that the technique also reduces the environmental impact on the sea when compared to the usual way with the use of temporary towers or scaffolding that causes pollution. He hopes the experience of working on the holtekamp bridge can be applied in other locations.

While the Commitment Making Officer (PPK) for the Construction of the Holtekamp Bridge, Irfan Hidayat, explained that the lifting phase span of the first phase is planned to be completed within a week. After that, he will try to continue as soon as possible with the second phase of the lifting center span. The Director General of Highways requested that in the second phase be able to invite young civil servants / CPN engineers as a joint learning facility. Irfan targets that all holtekamp bridge construction can be completed by mid-year.

At the lifting event were attended by the Director of Road Development Achmad Gani Ghazali Akman, the Head of the Road Research and Development Center Deded Permadi Sjamsudin and the Heads of BBPJN / BPJN and the Heads of Sub Directorates within the Directorate General of Highways. Also witnessed were representatives from the Papua Provincial Government, Jayapura City Government, Papua Regional Police and representatives from the consortium of PT Pembangunan Perumahan, PT Hutama Karya and PT Nindya Karya. (KompuBM)