President: Central government takes over road repairs in Jambi Province
This article has been translated by PwC Indonesia as part of our Indonesia Infrastructure News Service. PwC Indonesia has not checked the accuracy of, and accepts no responsibility for the content.
Investor Daily - Presiden: Pusat ambil alih perbaikan jalan Provinsi Jambi
17 May 2023
By: Amrozi Amenan
Jakarta - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) ensures that repairs to provincial road segments that are damaged in Jambi Province will be taken over by the central government. This policy is taken so that the road repairs can be carried out immediately.
“[Repairs] to roads in this province will also be taken over by the central government to be carried out immediately. If they are not [carried out immediately], logistics roads are crucial,” President Jokowi said during the press conference after observing the damages on Jambi City Border (Tangkit Village)-Desa Sungai Gelam Interchange road segment, which is an access to the Pineapple Agrotourism area in Tangkit Baru Village in Sungai Gelam in Muaro Jambi Regency, on Tuesday (16/05/2023).
President Jokowi’s visit was accompanied by Public Works and Housing (PUPR) Minister Basuki Hadimuljono, House of Representatives (DPR) Commission V Member H. Bakri, Jambi Governor Al Haris, Muaro Jambi Acting Regent Bachyuni Deliansyah, Region 1 Road and Bridge Preservation Director of the Highways Directorate General of the PUPR Ministry Nyoman Suryana, and Jambi National Road Implementation Centre (BPJN) Head Ibnu Kurniawan.
“Production roads are crucial, so they must be prioritised. Severely damaged [roads] must be repaired immediately,” President Jokowi said.
Furthermore, President Jokowi explained that Jambi Province consisted of nine regencies and two cities with a regency road network that spans 10,000 km, but almost half or 4,600 km were damaged. The provincial roads span 1,030 km with 250 km (25%) damaged and the national roads span 1,300 km with 130 km damaged.
“It is based on the data from the PUPR Ministry. The data that I have come from the people, and it is confirmed by the Governor and the Regent,” President Jokowi said.
“The national roads span 1,300 km with 130 km damaged. That was what we checked. So, the production road for pineapples is included,” President Jokowi added.
President Jokowi said that Jambi City Border-Desa Sungai Gelam Interchange road segment was a production road of the regional government that supports pineapple agriculture. According to President Jokowi, the segment is included in the severely damaged category, which must be handled immediately.
“We will commence the repairs in July or August 2023. Regency roads and provincial roads will also be taken over by the central government to be repaired immediately,” the President said.
Meanwhile, Minister Basuki said that the regional road repair was in line with Presidential Instruction Number 3 Year 2023 on Acceleration in the Improvement of the Connectivity of Regional Roads that was issued by the President in March 2023. The presidential instruction on regional roads was issued to handle non-national roads that are damaged and to improve regional road stability all over Indonesia using the state budget (APBN).
Jambi City Border (Tangkit Village)-Desa Sungai Gelam Interchange road segment that spans 5.6 km is one of the segments that is proposed to be handled using the presidential instruction on regional roads in fiscal year 2023.
Besides the segment, other segments that are proposed include roads in East Tanjung Jabung Regency that are Parit Selamat-Kuala Mendahara road spanning 9.7 km and Tugu PMD-Kuala Jambi axis road to Jerambah Beton Kampung Laut road spanning 8 km. Repairs to both segments will support agriculture products, such as palm oil, Liberian coffee, and coconuts.
Data collection
Meanwhile, Protocol, Press, and Media Deputy of the Presidential Secretariat Bey Machmudin explained that complaints from netizens on the comment section of President Jokowi’s uploads could make it easier for the government to recheck the damaged road data.
Bey explained that the PUPR Ministry has collected the data and surveyed damaged road segments in all provinces through the National Road Implementation Centre in the regions.
“With complaints from the people or netizens on President Jokowi’s social media accounts, we can cross-check the data from the PUPR Ministry against the data from the netizens, so it can be more on target,” Bey said as quoted by Antara earlier this week.
Bey explained that the PUPR Ministry has proposed a budget of Rp32.7 trillion in 2023/2024 for road repairs all over Indonesia. The budget allocation is based on the result of the limited meeting that was chaired by President Jokowi, which had been stated in Presidential Instruction Number 3 Year 2023 on Acceleration in the Improvement of the Connectivity of Regional Roads.
The presidential instruction was signed by the President to accelerate the improvement of regional road connectivity, provide maximum benefits to the national economy and the regional economy, reduce national logistics costs, integrate economic centres, and support road condition improvement. He said that the road repairs would be carried out in stages. Specifically in Lampung, the road repairs will be carried out in July 2023 at the latest after the tender process.
