Putri Prameshwari

Government Ready To Push Forward on Sumatra-Java Bridge

Last week’s destructive West Sumatra earthquake did little to dampen the government’s enthusiasm for building the world’s longest suspension bridge connecting Java and Sumatra islands across one of the most geologically active regions in the world.

The Ministry of Public Works is set to present a proposal for the Rp 100 trillion ($10.6 billion) Sunda Strait Bridge — or perhaps a tunnel — to the government by the end of this month. The proposal would address a number of issues concerning the construction, including funding.

Speaking during a discussion on the proposed bridge on Tuesday, Lambok Simorangkir, deputy to Cabinet Secretary Sudi Silalahi, said the private sector would be welcome to invest in the project, as long as it complied with government regulations.

“Connecting the two islands will be a difficult task,” Lambok said. “There will be a special government regulation issued regarding the construction.”

Bobby Mamahit, secretary general of the Ministry of Transportation’s maritime department, acknowledged that earthquakes and volcanoes had to be taken into consideration in undertaking the ambitious project.

The 34-kilometer-long, 75-meter-wide bridge would be only 200 kilometers from the meeting point of the Australian and Asian plates and around 50 kilometers from the highly active Anak Krakatau, the site of one of the world’s most famous volcanic eruptions.

“That is just one of the many factors,” Bobby said.

Another was the potential to disrupt shipping in the busy Sunda Strait. The proposed bridge would run through one of three special sea lanes that international ships use to pass through Indonesian waters with minimal restrictions.

“The construction phase itself must not disturb international sea traffic,” Bobby said, adding that hundreds of passenger, cargo and patrol ships pass through the strait daily.

He added that there would be a traffic separation scheme applied once construction began, which would allow ships to detour to the eastern side of the strait.

The initial “pre-feasibility” study was done by PT Bangungraha Sejahtera Mulia, a subsidiary of Artha Graha Networks, owned by tycoon Tommy Winata.

The plan calls for a series of spans carrying a six-lane highway and a double-track railway traversing the Sunda Strait and the islands of Prajurit, Sangiang and Ular. The longest span of the bridge is projected to be about three kilometers, more than 50 percent longer than the span of the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge in Japan, the longest in the world.

The bridge could be operational by 2020, with construction set to begin in 2012, if the government finds funding for it.

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