The proposed maritime solution aims to ease the heavy traffic flow specifically from I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport to the popular Canggu area.
"The sea toll is a necessity. People going to Canggu from Ngurah Rai Airport can go directly to Canggu and no longer have to travel by land," he stated after the Bali Regional People's Representative Council (DPRD) Plenary Session in Denpasar on Monday, May 18.
Recent social media content has highlighted severe gridlock in the area, particularly along the heavily congested Canggu Shortcut route.
Giri Prasta acknowledged that the persistent traffic problems in the region have not yet been optimally resolved by current land measures.
Meanwhile the option to widen the Canggu Shortcut is restricted due to limited space and the presence of nearby Hindu places of worship.
"The shortcut is not optimal because the road was already in its current state, and it was impossible to widen it due to Hindu places of worship, such as merajans, and they could not be relocated," he confirmed.
Therefore the Bali Provincial Government is collaborating with the Badung District Government and the central government to build the sea taxi route.
To support the upcoming water taxi services the government plans to construct several strategic stopover points along the coastline.
In addition to these transit points the coastline infrastructure will be widened to 120 meters above sea level to facilitate safe operations.
He detailed that these stopover points will also function as breakwaters to prevent ocean waves from directly hitting the coastline.
With this new maritime route travelers will have a reliable transit alternative beyond the shortcut or standard land traffic engineering.
While opting out of planning new road construction in the Canggu area, the Bali Provincial Government remains focused on building roads to address congestion in several other regions.
"We will improve road facilities, including by communicating with the central government about the Jimbaran underpass this year, and in the future, the one in Tohpati," he stated.
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Translator: Ni Putu Putri, Resinta Sulistiyandari
Editor: Arie Novarina
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