Janeman Latul

Cars crawling along a Jakarta toll road at rush hour. (JG Photo)

Indonesian Road Tolls to Rise Up to 14% Next Week

The government and expressway operators have finally agreed on toll increases of up to 14 percent starting on Monday, after the hikes were deferred a number of times starting in early August, officials said on Tuesday.

“The proposal to increase tolls was approved by the Public Works Ministry last week and will come into effect at midnight on Sept. 28,” Nurdin Manurung, head of the Toll Road Regulatory Agency (BPJT), said on Tuesday. “It’s already been settled. There will be no more delays.”

Nurdin said that if the government kept putting off the toll increases, it would send a bad signal to investors, because operators’ contracts stated that tolls were to be regularly reviewed to take inflation into account.

The 2004 Toll Road Law requires the government to review tolls every two years, based on the inflation rate as measured by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).

The government in August postponed the proposed toll hikes until Sept.4, and then did so again until after the Idul Fitri holiday.

Frans Sunito, president director of PT Jasa Marga, the country’s biggest toll-road operator, welcomed the decision.

“The government gave its initial approval to the proposals last week,” said Frans. “The increases are needed to allow operators to provide better service and to fulfill the contracts.”

He said the increases would not be as high as the 15 percent the company had predicted in May.

“If I’m not mistaken, the toll hikes will average between 13 percent and 14 percent,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Sedyatmo Toll Road — which links Jakarta and the city’s international airport — and the Jakarta-Cikampek Expressway will not be affected, because tolls on these routes were increased last year.

Frans said Jasa Marga was also awaiting a determination on the tolls for nine expressway projects currently under construction, including the long-awaited Bogor Ring Road in West Java, which has been open for trials since last week.

In 2008, Jasa Marga recorded revenue of Rp 3.35 trillion ($345 million), up 26.7 percent from Rp 2.64 trillion in 2007. It aims to boost revenue in 2009 by as much as Rp 3.7 trillion, an increase of about 11 percent, including anticipated revenues from Monday’s toll increases.

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