Fajar Pebrianto, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo on Wednesday announced the disbursement of Rp800 billion sourced from the central government to repair damaged roads and highways in the North Sumatran province. This is the same amount the central government handed to Lampung.

However, the President warned that provincial governments still bear the responsibility to fix public roads in their region and that the central government assistance is only exclusively for regions that are not able to fix public roads independently.

"Regions should not sit on their laurels. We are trying to help, accelerate, and introduce fixes on aspects that are subject to public complaints," said Jokowi in a press statement in North Sumatra on May 17.

Jokowi said that the government continues to improve infrastructure so that production and logistics roads are not disrupted. The disruption will increase logistical costs and may trigger an increase in inflation.

Previously on May 5, Jokowi officially announced that the repair of a number of damaged roads in Lampung would be taken up by the central government. The reason was that the roads had been in a state of disrepair for so long.

Jokowi made this announcement in a press conference, in front of Lampung Governor Arinal Djunaidi.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1726882/jokowi-announces-more-road-fixes-funded-by-central-gov