JAKARTA. PT Hutama Karya (HK) is speeding up the land acquisition for the priority toll project on the lane of Trans Sumatra. The toll road is scheduled to start operation in 2019. The state owned enterprise (SOE) has prepared an Rp 4.3 trillion of bridging funds for land acquisition.
As of October 2016, Hutama Karya has spent an Rp 1.2 trillion of bridging funds for land acquisitions, while waiting the intervention of Public Service Agency State Assets Management Institution. This year, the government has allocated an Rp 16 trillion of funds for land acquisitions for public interests.
However, the land acquisitions are still facing some obstructions. To date, Hutama Karya has only conducted land acquisitions of four toll roads lanes out of eight toll roads projects. Those four toll roads lanes include 86% of 17 kilometer of Medan-Binjai lane, 92% of Palembang-Indralaya lane (22 km), 2.9% of Pekanbaru-Dumai lane (131 km), and about 40% of Bakauheni-Terbanggi Besar lane (140 km).
Operational Director of Hutama Karya Bambang Pramusinto said that the obstructions ranging from the land ownership disputes to the methods of payment. Some of land owners asked for cash payment rather than a payment through banking transfer. “We could not do that way”, Bambang said.
Bambang added that the current land acquisitions are more progressive compared to the last year. “We now have clearer legal protections. We are also having legal assistances from Attorney and Supreme Audit Board so that we can secure more legal certainty,” he said.
Hutama Karya is also conducting construction while acquiring lands. General Manager of Hutama Karya said that the construction of Medan-Binjai lane is nearing 15% to completion, while Palembang-Indralaya and Bakauheni-Terbanggi Besar are nearing to 75% and 15% of completions, respectively. If the land acquisitions run as expected, Hutama Karya targets to operate Medan-Binjai and Palembang-Indralaya lanes by the end of 2017.
Additional toll road lanes
Government has appointed Hutama Karya to work on a total length of 2,700 kilometer of 24 toll roads lanes on Trans Sumatra. Hutama Karya priorities to complete constructions of a 645 kilometer of eight toll roads lanes, as well as a total of 335 kilometer of four toll roads lanes. The company also will construct a length of 770 kilometer of Banda Aceh-Medan, Padang-Pekan Baru, and Tebing Tinggi-Prapat toll roads lanes. (Translator: Muhammad Farid)
