Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) is preparing two lanes of the Cileunyi-Sumedang-Dawuan (Cisumdawu) Toll Road in West Java to ease traffic flow during the 2023 Eid al-Fitr homecoming exodus (mudik).

"I inspected the toll road last Sunday. Hopefully, it will be officially opened by April 14. In the initial phase, we will provide two lanes for the flow from Bandung or vice versa. God willing, everything will run as planned," PUPR Minister Basuki Hadimuljono stated at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Tuesday.

The PUPR Ministry is working on the construction of the Cisumdawu Toll Road, which will comprise six sections. The project is being constructed through the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) scheme, with a budget totaling Rp5.5 trillion (around US$368.9 million).

"The road will span 90 km covering Cileunyi and Cipali," the minister remarked.

However, Hadimuljono did not reveal details of the mudik scenario on the Cisumdawu Toll Road.

"The Traffic Police is the one that will make the call regarding the implementation of 'one way' or 'contra flow' scenario," he noted.

Earlier, the government had forecast that the mudik flow would start to occur on April 18 and would reach its peak on April 21, with nearly 125 million people joining the exodus, an increase of 85 million as compared to last year.

"The toll road will be all set on time (before the flow reaches its peak)," he stated.

Section 1, spanning 11.45 km across Cileunyi and Pamulihan, has been active since January 2022. Meanwhile, the physical construction of Section 2 connecting Pamulihan to Sumedang for 17.05 km has reached 94.7-percent completion.

Furthermore, the construction of Section 3 connecting Sumedang to Cimalaka for 4.05 km is complete. Meanwhile, the construction of Section 4 connecting Cimalaka to Legok for 8.20 km is divided into two parts -- Section 4A and 4B -- with work on the former being 87.93-percent complete while that on the latter is 58-percent complete.

Construction of the remaining sections is also divided into two parts each.

Work on Section 5A has reached 60.9-percent completion, while the construction of 5B is 63-percent complete, with the distance totaling 14.9 km. Meanwhile, work on both parts of Section 6 has almost reached full completion.

The completion of construction of the Cisumdawu Toll Road is expected to help ease the homecoming flow from Cipali to Cisumdawu or vice versa.

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Translator: Desca Lidya Natalia, Tegar Nurfitra
Editor: Anton Santoso
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