Bad roads slow Indonesian growth, hurt competitiveness

Novia D. Rulistia, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The state of land transportation is not only poor but seems to be getting worse, a seminar revealed, citing a global survey that put Indonesia's ranking in a worse position this year than last year.

Bambang Susantono, deputy to the coordinating minister for the economy for infrastructure and regional development, said Tuesday that Indonesia was ranked 91 among 131 countries surveyed by the World Economic Forum in the transportation infrastructure area.

Indonesia was 89th last year.

Bambang said the infrastructure sector was eroding the country's economic competitiveness.

"From the aspect of competitiveness itself Indonesia ranks 54th out of 131 countries."

Bambang said problems often occurred such as bottleneck and delays in logistics deliveries along Java's northern coastal highway.

"Such conditions create logistical obstacles which are hampering the country's economic growth and diminishing our competitiveness index even further," he told the seminar on Indonesia's state of transportation.

Therefore, Bambang said, the government planned to speed up road infrastructure projects to help solve bottleneck problems in the country's main trading lanes by increasing the infrastructure budget.

"To help solve the problem, we will first focus on creating better access in certain areas which support the economy, like the eastern parts of Sumatra, Kalimantan and Java's northern coastal highways," he said.

Also, the government will focus on improvements in industrial areas, such as in Cikarang, West Java, and Jababeka, as well as the construction of toll roads from Cibitung to Tanjung Priok ports.

To do that, the government has increased budget allocations for infrastructure projects in the past several years, Bambang added.

In 2005, the government allocated Rp 20.9 trillion for infrastructure, of which Rp 8.9 trillion was set aside for transportation.

This year, the infrastructure budget allocation has reached Rp 61.9 trillion with Rp 33.8 trillion for transportation.

However the budget for roads management this year is only Rp 18.41 trillion, according to director general for highways at the Public Works Ministry, A. Hermanto Dardak. Only 45 percent of the budget is to be used for road expansion.

The remaining 55 percent, equal to Rp 10.19 trillion, will be used for the preservation of 33.78 kilometers of roads and 27,456 meters of bridges, as well as the improvement of road structures.

The road expansion projects will consist of the construction of 1,800 kilometers of bridges and roads.

"The increase in budget is simply not enough," Bambang said.

"In addition, the budget increase should be balanced by other efforts, like transportation regulations, improving the quality of human resources and the involvement of the private sector."