BINA MARGA (MEDAN) - Commission V of the Republic of Indonesia House of Representatives paid a specific visit to Medan, North Sumatra Province (05/02). The House of Representatives Commission V team was accompanied by the Head of the Medan National Road Implementation Agency II, the Director General of Highways, Paul Ames Halomoan and the Head of the Medan Kualanamu Freeway Implementation Work Unit, Dedy Hariadi, along with the ranks.

The infrastructure works reviewed by the group chaired by Anton Sukartono Suratto from Commission V of the Indonesian House of Representatives are, first, the Medan - Kuala Namu - Tebing Tinggi Toll Road along 61.8 Km with an investment of IDR 6,250 (in billion). Based on Perpres no. 5 of 2017 concerning the Acceleration of the Implementation of the National Strategic Project, there are 8 (eight) sections taking precedence with the operating target no later than the end of 2019. The Medan-Binjai Toll Road and the High Range-Tebing including two sections included in the acceleration program.

For that reason, on the same occasion, Paul said that the priority of the acceleration of the two toll roads is because they are included in 15 main corridors to support the Trans Sumatra Toll Road which is being predicted to be part of ASEAN / Asian Highways. Going forward, the vital function of the Trans Sumatra Toll Road will be to reduce traffic burden and road maintenance costs on the island of Sumatra.

Paul added that government support for development is now optimal, focusing on the freeway. Moreover, the toll road in North Sumatra Province will be one of the longest. The toll road is planned for 347.6 Km with the Rantau Prapat-Kisaran-Tebing Tinggi-Medan-Binjai-Langsa section. "The Medan-Parbar Toll Road will be planned for April 2018 to be inaugurated along the 10.8 Km. We went out to Sei Rampah for about 9.3 Km, hopefully October 2018 can be inaugurated. Medan-Binjai has 3 sections, sections 2 and 3 have been inaugurated, only 1 section is 6 Km in length, but there is a land problem along 1 Km, so that the process becomes a little hampered. But I am optimistic that everything can be formalized in March 2018, "he explained.

Head of the Kuala Namu Medan Expressway Implementation Unit, Dedy Hariadi, said that the planned construction of the Kisaran-Tebing Tinggi toll road Phase I of the Kuala Tanjung-Tebing Tinggi toll road along 39.68 Km with an estimated land requirement of 347.25 Ha is located in 3 Regencies: Tebing Tinggi -Simalungun-Coal. The land acquisition team under his leadership has prepared the documents and preparations needed for the toll road construction work. Moreover, as much as 64.04% or about 222.40 hectares of land acquired were plantations owned by the majority of residents. So that direct socialization to residents affected by land acquisition is carried out intensively.

The second agenda was continued with the group seeing the condition of the national road infrastructure at the Kuala Tanjung Port access. The trip was made with the intention of knowing the progress of the construction of the access road, toll road, as well as the Railroad / Railink of Medan City. "Overall the conditions are good, hopefully this will become a pilot in other areas. Compared to other provinces, the national road in northern Sumatra is among the longest. Meanwhile, the programmed budget is not yet proportional to infrastructure needs, it is still ranked 10 or 11. This is not fair! He pointed out that the budget is less like in the work of Ring Road Samosir.

It is undeniable that the existence of infrastructure in Sumatra Province with the implementation of the National Center for the Implementation of National Road II is very vital because it will support the Bakaheuni-Banda Aceh corridor tracing the Eastern Cross of Sumatra with a length of ± 2,017 Km. Work with BUJT construction implementers and government support must always be synergized so that the Kisaran-Tebing Tinggi Toll Road construction activities will be completed in accordance with the established timeline.