The central government through the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) with a number of local governments signed a regional grant agreement for a program to improve performance and maintenance of regional roads on Wednesday (12/12) in Jakarta. The grant program signed is Provincial Road Improvement and Maintenance (PRIM) through the assistance of the Australian government and the Regional Road Grant Program (PHJD) with funding from the 2019 Budget Year Budget (TA) to support the development of the National Tourism Strategic Area (KSPN).

Specifically for PRIM, the program will be implemented in the period 2019-2021. Whereas the PHJD with the 2019 TA Budget will be conducted to support the development of KSPN in four provinces, namely Tanjung Kelayang in Bangka Belitung, Bromo-Tengger-Semeru in East Java, Wakatobi in Southeast Sulawesi and Labuan Bajo in East Nusa Tenggara. In addition, PHJD will be held next year in six district governments, namely Belitung, Malang, Pasuruan, Lumajang, Wakatobi and West Manggarai. This PHJD is a follow-up to the PRIM pilot project that began five years ago in 2013 funded by the Australian Government in the regions of West Nusa Tenggara Province and West Lombok Regency.

Director of Urban Freeway and Regional Road Facilitation, Directorate General of Highways, Ministry of PUPR Hedy Rahadian said the two Hibah programs are aimed at helping improve governance and quality of maintenance of regional road networks under the authority of each Regional Government, especially on the corridor leading to KSPN. Program financial management is the Ministry of Finance and the implementation of its activities is monitored by the Ministry of PUPR. In addition, the Ministry of PPN / Bappenas, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Tourism and BPKP were also involved in the PRIM and PHJD programs.

"PRIM and PHJD are a form of synergy of all parties concerned about improving the quality of the road network in Indonesia. Bina Marga will continue to assist PHJD participating provinces and districts through programs that improve their knowledge and capabilities in road management and maintenance, "said Hedy.

He continued, the handling of provincial and district roads is based on a corridor approach that connects backbone road networks such as national roads (toll and non-toll) through provincial / district roads to activity centers such as tourism, so that it is expected to be able to increase value for money and value for investment.

For information, in the APBN TA 2019, allocating grants from Domestic Revenues amounting to Rp500 billion for PHJD. The local government will pre-finance physical (construction) and non-physical activities through strengthening planning, road transport traffic forums, community involvement and gender. After that the grant funds are paid to the local government if the results of the road works meet the quality standards of the Ministry of PUPR agreed in advance in the Project Management Manual (PMM).

Meanwhile, the Australian Government provided funding through the Australia Indonesia Partnership for Infrastructure (KIAT) to continue supporting the preparation and implementation of PRIM for Probolinggo District while continuing to support and provide technical assistance to the four provinces and six districts participating in the PHJD and the Central Government.

Director General of Fiscal Balance, Ministry of Finance Astera Primanto Bhakti said, one of the successes of PRIM was the realization of the use of funds that averaged above 95 percent per year. In the 2019 budget year, PRIM was developed into a PHJD.

"We hope that the regional governments participating in the PHJD program can utilize and manage grant funds in the right amount, on time, and in the right output. Our highest appreciation is given to the Australian Government for the PRIM pilot project through the PRIM Grant and KIAT as its supporting units. The Central Government provides transfers to the regions in the form of specific grants and block grants. This program is a specific grant program which can later be developed to other programs such as DAK, "he continued.

During the five years of PRIM implementation, 4,565 kilometers of provincial and district road networks in NTB have been maintained. The West Nusa Tenggara Province Regional Budget (APBD) in 2013-2018 allocated about Rp. 547 billion for the program. While funds of Rp78 billion from the West Lombok Regency APBD since 2017-2018 have been absorbed to improve road quality standards. The level of road stability during the project progresses. If in 2014 the level of road stability is less than 70 percent, the condition will increase to 85 percent in 2018. The PHJD is planned to last for five years from 2019 to 2023, will cover up to 15 provinces and 29 districts with a proposed funding from ABPN of Rp 15 trillion.