Jakarta – Any expectations of immediate measures to build new national roads have been put on the back burner, at least until 2014, despite crumbling infrastructure that has created high costs for the economy and logistical uncertainty.
Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto told The Jakarta Post recently that the government saw no immediate need to build new national roads, even for the commodity powerhouses of Sumatra, Sulawesi and Kalimantan,
"Existing national roads are sufficient. There is no rush to create new ones," he said. "Our immediate strategy is to raise road capacity by gradually ensuring all of our national roads have four lanes."
Problems in land acquisition, particularly in Java, Sumatra and Sulawesi, is cited by Djoko as the main reason discouraging the construction of new roads.
"We hope the new presidential regulation on land acquisition will create opportunities to buy land for public infrastructure, including expansion of national roads," said Djoko.
National roads, managed by central government, exclude privately managed toll roads and regional roads. The Public Works Ministry has earmarked Rp 34 trillion (US$3.57 billion) of its Rp 69 trillion budget next year for maintenance and expansion of existing roads.
The budget for roads is lower than the Rp 41.7 trillion allocated to the Religious Affairs Ministry, which is mostly used to buy copies of the Koran, prayer equipment and maintain religious schools.
"The government's ambition on infrastructure development is not in line with its budgetary policy," said the deputy chairman of House Commission V overseeing infrastructure and transportation, Muhidin Mohamad Said. "The budget for infrastructure development is only 2.5 percent of the total the state budget for 2013," he said.
In its quarterly report published in July, the World Bank said that investment in new national road construction with appropriate standards was essential, given growth in traffic and medium term development targets.
National road conditions have improved in recent years, with about 86 percent currently in good condition – well above the developing country average of 70 percent – but there has been only a marginal increase in new road construction.
"As a result, there is a strong concentration of traffic in urban centers and on regional roads. Road travel speeds are consequently relatively low," the report said.
Road vehicles are the predominant mode of transport in Indonesia, accounting for 70 percent of freight ton-km and 82 percent of passenger-km, according to the report.
National roads have the highest network utilization at 34 percent, although they represent only 8.8 percent (38,570 kilometers) of the total road network.
The number of passenger cars, buses, and trucks grew at above 20 percent a year between 2005 and 2010, however, the national road network only grew by a quarter during the same period, according to the World Bank.
Between 2005 and 2011, the national road network was extended mostly through minor widening to improve sub-standard roads considered strategically important.
However, the World Bank believes there was 'inefficiency' in maintenance costs with unit costs, benchmarked against international norms, relatively high.
Toll-road development, expected to handle the rise in volume, has also been exceedingly slow. By 2010, only 742 kilometers of toll roads had become operational even though the first development was back in 1978.
That is less than a third of the estimated need of 2,400 kilometers according to the Public Works Ministry's strategic plan, and lags well behind several countries in the region in terms of expressway density.
It is not surprising that average transport cost in Indonesia is high compared to Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia, according to the World Bank.
"I am particularly worried about the state of our infrastructure in the short term. Unless there is a sense of urgency to resolve it, I am afraid the economy will be in gridlock soon," said University of Indonesia economist Mohamad Ikhsan, also a special advisor to Vice President Boediono. (aml)