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Soker Toll Road the Longest in Indonesia

Length is 179 Km, with investment of Rp 11 Trillion

Karanganyar - Solo - Kertosono toll road, Nganjuk Regency, East Java, has a length of 179km. With an investment of almost Rp 11 trillion, the toll road, which can be abbreviated as Soker (Solo - Kertosono) and serves to link Central Java with East Java, will be the longest toll road in Indonesia. The toll road is being built under Public Private Partnership (PPP/ KPS) scheme.

Head of Work Unit (Satker) of Solo - Kertosono toll road project, Brawijaya, when contacted by Suara Merdeka, Wednesday (18 April) yesterday, said that the total investment value of this toll road, which is part of the Trans Java toll road network, reaches Rp 11 trillion, divided between the government and the investor. In terms of the government’s tasks, physical construction costs Rp 3.55 trillion, while land acquisition along the 179km-long Soker expressway consumes Rp 1.85 trillion. Meanwhile, the investor has to spend Rp 55 trillion.

"The entrance of Soker toll road is around Semarang - Solo Jalan Raya, exactly in front of Banyudono substation of PLN in Boyolali. However, administratively, it is within Colomadu Subdistrict, Karanganyar Regency,” said Brawijaya.

For the toll gate, he added, it is admittedly a bit confusing because it is located on the border of three regions, namely Boyolali, Karanganyar and Sukoharjo. According to Brawijaya, the 179km-long expressway is targeted for completion in 2014. The construction completion target depends on the speed of land acquisition and that is one of the problems,” he said.

In addition to becoming a toll road, he added, the Soker toll road also serves as a ring road, because the ring road in Solo has not been completed owing to land problems.

Meanwhile, Chief of Ngasem Village, Djoko Slamet Hariadi, said that there are 37 land parcels in his village affected by Solo - Mantingan - Kertosono toll road construction. Of the existing compensation payouts, there are those who have received billions of rupiah, particularly for lands located on Jalan Raya [Highway] Solo - Semarang that have been dried up {from formerly being irrigated rice fields]. However, not all the lands affected by the land acquisition process are owned by the villagers. This is because there are many land parcels, especially the roadside ones along Semarang - Solo highway, that are owned by outsiders and are usually used as an investment.

As an elder in the village, he has also warned the residents whose lands are affected by the acquisition process to use the money wisely and for productive things. "If their rice fields are acquired, the compensation money should be used to buy other rice fields, so that they can continue to farm," he said. (H 53-50)

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Source: Suara Merdeka Daily (18 April 2012) in 

http://www.suaramerdeka.com/v1/index.php/read/news/2012/04/18/115831/Tol-Soker-Bakal-Jadi-yang-Terpanjang-di-Indonesia

Translated by INDII in http://www.indii.co.id/news_daily_detail.php?id=3596