Trans Sumatra Toll Road Put High Hopes on US Investment

The Indonesian government targets the Trans Sumatra toll road project to be mostly completed by 2024, yet it will likely miss the target unless investors pour huge funding. State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) contractor PT Hutama Karya, which is working on the project, requires Rp 547.16 trillion in funds to complete 24 Trans Sumatra toll roads segments.

Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said Indonesia offered the United States government to invest in the Trans Sumatra toll road project. "The president asks to complete the Trans-Sumatra project. Some sections are already operating from Betung-Medan to Parapat, then from Medan to Aceh. When US Secretary of State Antony Blinken came, [we asked them] to help on the project," Luhut said on Monday.

Minister of Public Works and Public Housing Basuki Hadimuljono offered Turkish investors the Trans Sumatra toll road project and several other infrastructures. The Trans Sumatra projects offered are Jambi-Rengat and Rengat-Pekanbaru (Pekanbaru-Siak) sections along 282.7 km and the third and fourth sections of the National Capital Access toll road project along 33.7 km. He also offered a public-private partnership project for 11,268 residential units in the housing zone 1A of the State Capital, built through 2024.