The Directorate General (DG) of Bina Marga together with the Provincial Government of West Java (West Java) and the City Government of Bandung agreed to encourage the acceleration of the realization of the Bandung Intra Urban Toll Road (BIUTR). The existence of the road which is planned to be financed by a Japanese Government loan is considered important in order to unravel congestion in the city of Bandung.

"We sit together with the West Java Provincial Government and the Bandung City Government to accelerate connectivity activities in Bandung, one of which is the Bandung Intra Urban Toll Road, which has been constrained for a long time since 2010, we encourage and we comment," said Director General (Dirjen) Bina Marga Arie Setiadi Moerwanto after holding a Coordination Meeting with West Java Deputy Governor Dedy Mizwar at the Directorate General of Highways, Jakarta on Tuesday (31/1) afternoon.

The commitment of the two Regional Governments in the form of land acquisition for the BIUTR project is very important as a condition of Bappenas to then be processed by the JICA Japan Cooperation Agency. Arie said that his agreement with the West Java Provincial Government and Bandung City Government would be set forth in a memorandum of understanding which was planned to be signed in the second week of February.

Based on data from the Directorate General of Highways, there are six jobs to be carried out related to BIUTR namely Pasteur-Pasupati access (2.6 Km), Pasupati-Soekarno Hatta (12.3 Km), Soekarno Hatta-Gedebage (2 Km), and the Gedebage-flyover Interchange 149 (2.66 Km), Kopo-Lewi Panjang flyover (1.3 Km) and Kiaracondong-Buah Batu flyover (1.96 Km).

Road Network Development Director Rachman Arief said, except for the new Pasupati-Soekarno Hatta development work to be carried out in phase II, five other work packages will be carried out in phase I. It is targeted that BIUTR construction can be completed within two years.

"We propose a JICA loan, Bappenas has already entered the green book, for that the implementation depends on the commitment of the Regional Government, especially land acquisition. We will immediately make an MoU, arrange who does what, and schedule the time, then we will take it to Bappenas, "continued Arief.

Cisumdawu land

In the meeting with the West Java Provincial Government, the Director General of Highways also delivered assistance to accelerate land acquisition for the Cileunyi-Sumedang-Dawuan (Cisumdawu) toll road, especially for phase III, which is the Cileunyi-Rancakalong section, which until now has only acquired 36 percent of the land. West Java Provincial Government is expected to help to facilitate the acquisition of land owned by STPDN in four villages with the Ministry of Home Affairs and the acquisition of regional treasury land in three villages.

"If this can be done immediately, then the land acquisition process will increase to 68 percent, this is important in order to meet the conditions for disbursing Chinese loans which requires a minimum of 60 percent land acquisition and then can be built," said Director General of Highways.

Based on data from the Directorate General of Highways, land owned by STPDN is located in Cibeusi Village (29.82 Ha), Sindangsari Village (12.47 Ha), Cileles Village (9.07 Ha) and DEsa Cilayung (9.27 ha). Whereas the local treasury land is in Cilayung Village (320 m2), Mekarsari Village (5,536 m2), and Margaluyu Village (176 m2).

For information, the Cisumdawu toll road which has a length of 60 Km is targeted for construction to be completed in 2019. The toll road, whose construction is divided into six important sections, will support the New International Airport in Kertajati. Sections I and II (Cileunyi-Sumedang) were built by the Government with Chinese loan funds. While Sections III - VI (Sumedang-Dawuan) were built by the private sector, with the Toll Road Business Entity being PT Citra Karya Jabar Tol. (Kompu BM)