By developing toll roads to various corners of the country, we are preparing roads for the better welfare of the people.
By
KOMPAS EDITOR
·3 minutes read
KOMPAS/ HERU SRI KUMORO
The Solo-Semarang toll road section in Boyolali, Central Java, with Mount Merbabu in the background, Friday (17/12/2021).
“Don't talk about efficient transportation just yet. We don’t have reliable transportation routes yet,” said a toll road CEO several years ago.
At that time, the discussion was marked by numerous disagreements between the construction of a train network and toll roads. The rail network received more support because it was efficient, environmentally friendly and it was believed that it would not change agricultural land too much. The construction of toll roads was considered otherwise.
Time goes by. The construction of the toll road network is now being carried out in many places. The length of the trans-Java toll road alone reaches 1,023 kilometers, stretching from Banten to Pasuruan, East Java. By the end of 2024, the government of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo is targeting to build 4,500 km of toll roads.
The task of the government is not just to encourage the presence of toll roads. The government is also in charge of building non-toll roads. However, toll roads have proven to optimize the distribution of logistics. In Java, new economic centers have been built one after another, such as in Subang, Batang, Kendal and Gresik. New industrial estates are predicted to grow in line with the auction of new toll roads, such as in the southern part of West Java to Garut and Tasikmalaya.
The impact of toll roads on agricultural land should be minimized by consistently implementing regional spatial plans. Over time, the agriculture industry should be able to flourish without the need for large swathes of land like in Singapore, the Netherlands or Japan.
Kompas
Batang Integrated Industrial Estate (KITB) in Gringsing District, Batang, Central Java, Friday (17/12/2021). This industrial area which has direct access to the Transjawa toll road section of the Batang-Semarang section was initiated by the Government to encourage the strengthening of the industrial sector in Indonesia.
Cities increasingly connected with toll road networks should also be able to boost economic sectors, such as tourism. With a shorter time, which makes travelling easier, toll roads encourage the growth of tourism, even in the era of the Covid-19 pandemic, thereby requiring regulations.
Mobility arrangements can be facilitated by the presence of toll roads because they are more closed than non-toll national roads. With certain traffic engineering, the volume of passing vehicles can be reduced, such as by implementing the odd-even strategy on four toll roads in Java from Monday (20/12/2021) until early January 2022.
Opportunities to engineer mobility are even more open. There are many things that can be applied if only there is courage. Take, for example, heavily discounted rates for trucks to pass in the middle of the night to reduce congestion during the day. With this mechanism, toll rates can charge according to the traffic density ratio. With RFID technology, which will soon be extended to pay toll rates, the logic can be identified in detail by the passing vehicles. Vehicles transporting goods for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) could ideally be subject to lower tariffs.
We also want to encourage local governments to move quickly to maximize the connectivity of toll road networks. Regional governments must revise the Spatial Plan Regulation (RTRW) as soon as the Public Works and Housing Ministry determines the route of the toll road to be built. By doing so, when new toll roads are inaugurated, the regional economy can also skyrocket.
Observing the expansion of the toll road network, we then remember a saying from China: “If you want to be rich, build roads.”
By developing toll roads to various corners of the country, we are preparing roads for the better welfare of the people.
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