DENPASAR ~

Four toll roads that will connect the northern to the southern part of Bali is planned to be built to support the acceleration of equalization of development in Bali.

“This idea is a follow-up to the President Joko Widodo’s policy who plans the construction of 1,562 kilometers of toll road in Indonesia to 2019,” said Operational Director I of PT Waskita Karya, Desi Arryani when presenting the pre-feasibility study on the construction of the toll in front of the Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika, in Denpasar on Thursday.

She stated that the four toll roads that will be built in Bali offered by PT Waskita Karya include Kuta- Canggu (Badung Regency) -Tanah Lot-Soka (Tabanan Regency), Soka-Pekutatan (Jembrana Regency), Pekutatan-Gilimanuk and Pekutatan-Lovina (Buleleng Regency).

Bali, she added, becoming one of areas for toll construction because the results of the survey indicate that the southern region has been very dense.

This, she continued, trigger the imbalance development between the southern region with other parts of Bali.

“The development of this highway becomes an important part of the efforts to accelerate equal development in Bali,” said Desi.

Meanwhile, PT Waskita Karya consultant Ahmad Faiz explained that the total toll roads planned to be built are along 156.7 kilometers, from Kuta-Canggu-Tanah Lot-Soka (28 km), Soka-Pekutatan (25.1 km), Pekutatan-Gilimanuk (54.4 km) and Pekutatan-Lovina (46.7 km).

“It takes around IDR34,379 trillion to finance the construction of toll roads,” said Faiz.

To run this plan, surveys have already been conducted in order to complete the pre-feasibility study. The surveys are focused on the analysis of the development of the region, traffic projections, path selection with a review of the environmental aspects, cost and technical, construction cost estimation, economical and financial analysis.

Whereas, for Kuta-Canggu-Tanah Lot-Soka, they give three alternatives, path 1 which refers to the local spatial plan, path 2 which passes through the beach and path3 by utilizing the river groove. The river groove gets the best option and economically most likely to work on.

“Passing the beach will be very expensive and the construction will not be permanent because of the strong currents of the Indian Ocean,” said Faiz.

Trace one that follows the path of Spatial Plan (RTRW) is also hampered by land acquisition since it passing tourist area of Canggu.

PT Waskita Karya also wants to get a response and input from Governor to move on to the next stage.

Meanwhile, Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika responded positively to the idea to build toll roads.

Therefore, he really hopes that PT Waskita Karya can realize the construction of this road. Moreover, Bali provincial government plans to develop area of Pekutatan-Jembrana as a new city.

“Fortunately there are 1,100 hectares of provincial land area, which is currently used as a rubber plantation. If the toll roads can be realized, we believe that the development of that area can be accelerated and will bring benefits to the local community,” he said.

Pastika is also optimistic that the investment has high economic value. He expects PT Waskita Karya to be seriously working on this plan so it can be realized immediately.