We hope that the fund could be disbursed soon that work could immediately start."Kupang (ANTARA News) - Construction of a 177 kilometer road along the border line with Timor Leste in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) is now nearing completion.
The new road, extending across a number of regencies in NTT, is to be officially commissioned by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) in December this year, head of the provincial Public Works Service Andre Koreh said here on Wednesday.
The president would commission the road together with a number of other infrastructure projects built in the frontier areas, Andre told ANTARA News.
Construction of the road, which began in 2015 has been progressing well so far , and barring any unexpected bottleneck it would be ready for commissioning in December, he said.
As for the construction of a number of cross border roads, the contractor, is still awaiting the disbursement of Rp1.8 trillion from the state budget.
"We hope that the fund could be disbursed soon that work could immediately start," Andre said.
The cross road which is included in the Border Red Belt project, will pass through a number of locations in the eastern sector of the regencies of Belu and Malaka to be built from Motamasin toward Laktutus, Henes, Turiskain,Salore to end in Motaain, which one of the main border passes between Indonesia and Timor Leste in eastern region.
In the central sector of Timor Tengah Utara (TTU) , which borders on Timor Lestes Oecusse enclave, construction would begin from Amol toward Oehose - Manufono that ended in Wini, near Oecusse.
In the western sector in the regency of Kupang, which is also borders on Oecusse, construction would start from Oepoli toward Fefa , Tubona, Saenam, Haumeniana that will end in Fainake.
Meanwhile other route linking Oepoli in the regency of Kupang and Wini in the regency of Timor Tengah Utara, both bordering on Oecusse is now under construction expected to be completed in 2017.
Andre said construction of a number of main border gates is now underway in Motaain in the regency of Belu, which borders on Batugede of Timor Leste.
"It is now almost 100 percent completed. It is in the finishing phase," he said.
A border gate is also under construction in Wini of the regency of Timor Tengah Utara (TTU) bordering on Oecusse and by July it was 47 percent completed.
A similar project is also under construction in Motamasin of the regency of Malaka, which borders on the Kovalima district.
Construction of border gates in the latter two locations has been slowed over land clearing , but now the problem has been solved, Andre said.
Altogether, infrastructure in the frontier areas in a number of regencies in NTT would be "beautiful", he said.
The Central Government has put frontier areas high in its agenda of development program. President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has stressed the importance of development of the frontier areas not only in NTT but also in a number of other regions including Papua and Kalimantan.
"We thanks the government for its great attention to the welfare of people in frontier areas, which for a long time left lagging behind," Andre said.
(Uu.H-ASG/O001)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2016
