Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) Ministry has prepared around 52 thousand trees for planting in the corridor of the new capital (IKN) Nusantara’s Toll Road Segment 3B connecting KKT Kariangau-Simpang (Sp) Tempadung, East Kalimantan.

"The trees will be planted as toll road beautification and grouped according to the type of plant," PUPR Minister Basuki Hadimuljono said during a review of the progress of the construction of the IKN Segment 3B Toll Road, according to a written in a statement received here on Wednesday.

Several types of plants that are ready to be planted are Madagascar almond, Blackboard tree, Toona, Banyan, and Monkey pod tree. They are suitable for toll road corridors, Hadimuljono said.

During the construction of the IKN segment 3B toll road, 12 nursery tents will be built to cover an area of 2.3 hectares.

He said that the number of trees planted will continue to increase to hundreds of thousands of trees in the corridor of the access road to the IKN. Currently, several plant species out of a total of around 89 plant species are in the process of adaptation to local conditions.

The nursery area is supplied with water from the Rawa Buaya River with a maximum capacity of five thousand liters per day. The management of the nursery area is carried out by the Army Retired Association (PPAD) of 30 people, he added.

He explained that the construction of the 7.3-kilometer IKN Toll Road segment 3B is a continuation of segment 3A Karang Joang-KKT Kariangau, which is 13.4 km long.

The toll road will continue toward the 6.67km segment as 5A Sp. Tempadung-Balang Island Bridge and is estimated to finish in 2024, Hadimuljono disclosed.

He said the construction of the IKN toll road, which will later be connected by the Balikpapan-Samarinda Toll Road, has been carried out in order to accelerate connectivity to the IKN Nusantara Central Government Core Area (KIPP).

"Later, with the IKN toll road, the travel time to KIPP will only take approximately 30–40 minutes. Now, it is still about two hours," he explained.

Meanwhile, head of the East Kalimantan National Road Implementation Center (BBPJN), Reiza Setiawan, said that currently, the toll road construction progress has reached 22.24 percent.

"The work is being carried out by PT Wika, PT PP, and PT Jaya Construction (KSO) with a target for completion in June 2024 and a contract value of Rp1.9 trillion," Setiawan informed.

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Translator: Indra Arief P, Resinta S
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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