"Operations of the Bali Mandara Toll Road will be temporarily closed starting on March 10 at 11 p.m. local time and will reopen on March 12 at 7 a.m. local time, after Nyepi Day," the finance director of PT Jasamarga Bali Toll I, Wayan Eka Saputra, informed on Tuesday.
However, the toll road will remain open for emergency vehicles such as fire trucks and ambulances.
The vehicles will need to be accompanied by traditional village security groups (pecalang) or related agencies as per operational standards, he added.
In addition to Nyepi celebration, Saputra said that his party will also support the series of Nyepi celebrations, namely the Melasti ceremony at Pedungan Traditional village, on March 8.
To support the ritual, his party has deployed a patrol team and coordinated with the Benoa Police, Traffic Corps, and Pecalang to secure traffic moving from the Pesanggaran intersection toward Benoa Harbor to the ceremony's location.
Meanwhile, the operation and maintenance manager of PT Jasamarga Bali Tol, I Putu Gandi, informed that along with the recovery of the tourism sector in Bali, the traffic volume on Bali Mandara Toll Road also increased in 2023.
"The number of vehicles passing reached 14.2 million, with an average of 38 thousand vehicles every day. This number increased by 61 percent compared to 2022, with a record number of vehicles of 8.7 million, or an average of 24 thousand vehicles per day," he said.
However, he added, the traffic volume did not fully recover in 2023 following the pandemic. The number of vehicles plying on the toll road is still lower than the record of 16.3 million vehicles, or an average of 45 thousand vehicles per day, in 2019.
"We are trying to take proactive steps such as improving the quality of services and infrastructure to support and increase traffic on Bali Mandara Toll Road," he added.
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Translator: Ni Putu Putri M, Resinta Sulistiyandari
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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