Jakarta (ANTARA News) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) on Saturday inaugurated toll road access to Tanjung Pirok Port, North Jakarta, to enable smooth transportation of goods from and to the seaport.

"The construction of this port was postponed for two years due to land clearance problem when I was the governor of Jakarta," the Head of State said while inaugurating the operation of the toll road access to Tanjung Priok port in North Jakarta.

He stated that the land clearance problem was finally settled after inspection of the locations several times.

The construction of the toll road was also delayed due to mistakes in construction structure, which had to be repeated from the beginning.

"There were mistakes in the construction structure, which resulted in the removal of at least 69 pillars before it could be started again. That is why the project was delayed by about 5 to 6 years," Jokowi noted.

The 11.4-kilometer access toll road is part of the Jakarta outer ring road. The toll road is integrated with land, sea, and railways-integrated transportation modes from and to Tanjung Priok Seaport.

Funded by the Japanese government, the toll road project is constructed with a fund of Rp4.1 trillion through the Japan International Cooperation Agency scheme.

Its construction was started in 2013 and happened to be halted but was restarted in 2008.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2017