Strategic links including the Trans-Sumatra highway should be completed soon to reduce our transportation costs ..."Jakarta (ANTARA News) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) acknowledged that transportation costs in Indonesia are three times higher than that in Singapore and Malaysia.
"Strategic links including the Trans-Sumatra highway should be completed soon to reduce our transportation costs, which are three times higher than that in Singapore and Malaysia," President Jokowi remarked during the groundbreaking ceremony of the Bakauheni-Terbangi toll road at Tanjung Bintang in South Lampung on Thursday.
The president noted that once all areas in Sumatra are connected with adequate transport links, the cost of transporting logistics, goods, and passengers will become more efficient and cheaper.
"We hope that when the Bakauheni-Terbangi toll road is completed, the travel time from Lampung to Palembang will be three hours instead of eight hours previously," Jokowi stated.
He further added that the prices of goods and services will become cheaper and affordable for the community.
However, he affirmed that the Trans-Sumatra highway is not a short-term project that can be completed in a short period of time.
Besides the Trans-Sumatra highway project, the president expressed hope that the construction of the Trans-Sumatra railway line can be implemented simultaneously, so that they can be completed concurrently.
(Uu.O001/INE/KR-BSR/F001)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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