The bridge over the Mahakam river in East Kalimantan province collapsed at 4.30 pm last Saturday (Nov 26) causing a number of vehicles to fall into the river and killed at least 21 people.
"Members of the House of Representatives, the East Kalimantan provincial government officials and the Public Works Ministry have agreed to soon discuss about reconstruction of the bridge," Agung said after visiting the collapsed bridge in Kutai Kertanegara district.
The minister said the local government had allocated a Rp100 billion to rebuild the bridge while the rest of the fund for the reconstruction would be from the central government.
"If all evacuation process have completed, we can start doing the reconstruction of the bridge," said the minister, adding that his ministry was still focusing on the search of 16 bodies of victims of the collapsed bridge.
The minister said his office would also accelerate the evacuation of tens of vehicles and the ruins of the bridge from the bottom of the Mahakam river.
Spanning 710 meters over the Mahakam River, the bridge is said to be the longest suspension bridge in Indonesia with a suspended section of 270 meters.
The names of several companies have been mentioned in the media as having participated in the bridge`s construction. PT Perencana Jaya was said to have served as consultant on the project, PT Hutama Karya as the main contractor and PT Bukaka Teknik Utama as provider of maintenance services.
(Uu.A051/B003).
(T.SYS/B/A051/B003) 04-12-2011 15:16:59
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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