Nusa Dua - Infrastructure is still an important topic on the second day of the holding of the 2018 IMF-World Bank Annual Meeting in Nusa Dua, Bali. The Minister of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) attended the Indonesia Investment Forum with the theme "A New Paradigm in Infrastructure Financing" in Nusa Dua, Bali, Tuesday, October 9, 2018.

 Infrastructure financing schemes through Business Entity Government Cooperation (KPBU) have continued to develop in the last 10 years and have shown benefits in providing infrastructure to catch up with the neighboring countries.

After attending the opening of the forum, Minister Basuki paid a visit to the construction site of the new road located on the Mengwitani - Singaraja road section. This section is access to Bedugul tourism areas such as the Eka Praya Botanical Garden, Lake Beratan, Lake Buyan, Lake Tamblingan and Singaraja tours such as Lovina Beach.

"As a world tourist destination, the road condition improvement is gradually carried out by the Ministry of PUPR. Besides that the presence of this new road will improve connectivity between the southern and northern Bali. The impact is expected that the economy in North Bali can be more developed as the southern part of Bali," said Minister Basuki. New road construction is also needed to support the planned construction of a new airport in the north of Bali.

The existing condition of this road section with a width varies a maximum of 7 meters, where there are many sharp turns and grades with a slope of 8-12%. Roads that are flanked by steep slopes and hills do not allow widening to be carried out, so new roads are constructed that are safer and more comfortable to cross. This is because the new geometric road has an 8% slope level and eliminates sharp turns.

The first location visited was sections 3 & 4 which are currently in the land acquisition stage by the Buleleng Regency Government. The new road with a length of 1.9 Km will be partly on the side of Lake Beratan with an elevation of 210 meters.

The new road will cut the Mengwitani-Singaraja road section, thus avoiding road users from sharp bend points and steep slopes along the 2.4 Km. Thus the average speed of a vehicle can increase from the original 20 km / h on an existing road to 40-60 km / h on a new road.

The travel time is also shorter than the original 7 minutes to 2 minutes. Construction is targeted to begin in 2019 for section 3, with a total cost of sections 3 & 4 of Rp 169.9 billion.

The second location visited is sections 5 & 6 along 1.9 Km which will begin construction in 2018. The construction of new roads section 5 & 6 will also shorten the travel time from 6 minutes of the road to 3 minutes. The auction is over and the contract will be signed next week with a contract value of Rp 140.6 billion.

Also assisting Minister Basuki, namely the Director of Freeway, Urban and Regional Road Facilitation Hedy Rahadian, Head of the Public Communication Bureau Endra S. Atmawidjaja, and Head of the Center for Implementation of the VIII East Java-Bali National Road Ketut Darmawahana. (Gtv)

Public Communications Bureau
Ministry of PUPR