"God willing in 2018, Merak and Surabaya will be connected," he said when inaugurating the operation of the Surabaya-Mojokerto Section IV (Krian Mojokerto) in East Java here Saturday.
He would keep monitoring the construction of the toll road projects that would connect Merak and Surabaya to assure they are carried out 24 hours a day in three shifts, he said.
Infrastructure development in Indonesia has been far too late and lagging behind unlike China that has reached 60,000 kilometers (km) and increased by 4,000 to 5,000 km every year. Indonesia has built only 840 km so far, he said.
"We have just had 840 km. Therefore I have set a target of minimally 1,000 km for the minister of public works to finish within five years," he said.
The section he inaugurated had actually been started 21 years ago but had not been completed due to land acquisition problems, he said. "Next year it (Mojokerto-Surabaya) must be connected," he added.
Various efforts have been taken by the government to carry out the infrastructure development program including taking over the Batang-Semarang project after it had been stopped for several years. "It was taken over just last week by a state-owned company," the President said.
China, within six years, has built 16,000 km of high speed railway lines while Indonesia will just start building a 150 km long high speed railway line between Jakarta and Bandung, and even that has been hindered by arguments, the President also said.
"We have indeed liked arguing so far. I will change the culture into a culture of working now," he said.
President Joko Widodo reiterated the importance of transportation infrastructure development, saying it would cut transportation costs. "Out logistics costs will drop to make our goods cheaper, and in turn people will enjoy cheaper products," he said.
The government is now concentrating on two big programs namely deregulation and infrastructure development.
"Deregulation is being carried out to assure quick implementation of development efforts," he said.
Right now there are 42,000 regulations covering presidential, government, ministerial and other regulations. "This is what has strangled us so that we cannot move fast in the field," he said.
The 36.27-km Surabaya-Mojokerto toll road will connect Surabaya and Mojokerto. Its development is divided into four sections at a cost of Rp3.2 trillion. The section 4 which was inaugurated that day cost Rp681.52 billion.
It is estimated that 12,600 vehicles will pass Section IV of the Surabaya-Mojokerto toll road every day.
The section is part of the toll road development plan that will connect Merak in the western tip of Java, and Banyuwangi in the eastern tip of the island, stretching 1,000 km.
A 16.04 km section of the Surabaya-Mojokerto toll road has yet to be completed for operation by 2017.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2016
