T

he Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) Ministry plans to seal toll road concession agreements (PPJT) of a number of major toll roads across the country this month despite the late disbursement of a Chinese loan facility that was hindering the construction progress of the highways.

The ministry’s Toll Road Regulatory Agency (BPJT) head, Herry Trisaputra Zuna, said among the PPJTs in the pipeline were the Balikpapan-Samarinda toll road in East Kalimantan, the Manado-Bitung in North Sulawesi, the Pandaan-Malang in East Java, the Serpong-Balaraja in Banten and the Trans-Sumatra’s Terbanggi Besar-Kayu Agung section.

He cited state construction firm Jasa Marga as the winner of all the bidding processes for the toll road management concession, except for the Terbanggi Besar-Kayu Agung and Serpong-Balaraja.

“Jasa Marga would be the one signing off most of the concession agreements, with its various joint venture partners,” he said on Friday, citing reasons such as the unavailability of competitors as well as the lowest proposed operating costs for why the firm was chosen.

The toll roads are part of the government’s aim to build 1,000 kilometers of new toll roads by 2019 to spur the country’s economic growth.

However, the government has spent all of its land procurement cash of Rp 1.4 trillion (US$105.1 million) earlier this year, which prompted it to urge firms that won construction tenders to bridge the land procurement fund.

The government has secured a loan commitment from the Chinese government worth around Rp 10 trillion to build certain sections of four toll roads, namely the Manado-Bitung, Balikpapan-Samarinda, Cileunyi-Sumedang-Dawuan roads in West Java, as well as Solo-Kertosono in Central Java. The BPJT, however, claimed that they had yet received the loan despite its scheduled disbursement for the end of last year.

Of the figure, Rp 763 billion will go to finance the construction of the fifth section of the 99-kilometer Balikpapan-Samarinda toll road and Rp 1.2 trillion for the first section of the 39-km Manado-Bitung toll road.

Herry said so far, the land procurement for Balikpapan-Samarinda had exceeded 80 percent. Manado-Bitung itself fell behind at 31.55 percent in the procurement as the second section of the project had not been procured at all.
_______________________________

“Jasa Marga would be the one signing off most of the concession agreements, with its various joint venture partners.”

The government is in charge of 13.5 kilometers of the Manado-Bitung toll road and 33.1 km of the Balikpapan-Samarinda toll road while the remaining parts will be co-financed by the private sector.

BPJT head of investment Sudiro Roi Santoso said the construction of the 33.1-km Balikpapan-Samarinda and the 13.5-km Manado-Bitung toll roads under the government’s authority was progressing slowly
as the loan had not been disbursed to date.

“The construction progress overall for Manado-Bitung is still at around 5 percent because we are still waiting for the China loan. The progress for the Balikpapan-Samarinda is also at a similar level,” he said.