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The Long and Winding Road to South BaliLatest Update on Ever-Changing Plans to Build a Bali Toll Way to Overcome Traffic Congestion.(1/19/2011) The ever-changing scenario to build new highways in Bali to overcome traffic congestion has entered yet another chapter. DenPost and Bali Post report that plans to build a toll road from Serangan island to Tanjung Benoa are being put aside in favor of an overpass constructed atop environmentally sensitive mangrove forests connecting south Denpasar (Pedungan) and Nusa Dua. |
A Bali provincial spokesperson
confirmed this to the press on Wednesday, January 12, 2011, reporting
that the central government has approved the new plan after considering
all the alternatives, including toll ways, undersea tunnels and
flyovers. In the end, a decision has been made to provide support for a
11.5 kilometer elevated highway constructed over the mangrove forests
in Bali's south.
Endeavoring to minimize the impact of the new
road on the environmentally critical mangrove forest, the highways will
be suspended on 1,000 supporting columns with an access point included
near the airport access road. The new highway will also be designed to
accommodate motorcycles as well as cars and trucks.
To
fast-track the program the government will immediately embark on a
two-month survey prior to granting work contracts to build the road
which, by presidential instruction, must be completed in time for a
major APEC conference set for Bali in 2013. A toll road, the project will be financed and managed by four State-owned enterprises: PT Jasa Marga, PT Pelindo III, PT Angkasa Pura and the Bali Tourism Development Corporation (BTDC).
Separately,
the vice-chairman of the Bali House of Representatives (DPRD-Bali),
Ketut Suwandhi, told the press that earlier plans to build a toll-way
and bridge connecting Serangan Island (Turtle Island) with Tanjung
Benoa have been prevented from moving ahead due to uncertain land
titles on Serangan island, complicated further by the reported
bankruptcy of the Turtle Island Development Corporation (BTID).
Concerns
were also raised that a toll road incorporating a bridge connecting
Serangan island and Tanjung Benoa would interfere with shipping access
to the port of Benoa and approach-departure paths for aircraft using
the Bali Ngurah Rai Airport.
Suwandhi said he hoped the new
proposal to build a highway suspended over Bali's mangrove forests
would not endanger the natural environment. At the same time, he
acknowledged that some damage to the mangrove is inevitable and must
result from the construction process of the new highway and that
development plans must include a provision for reforestation after the
road is built.
According to NusaBali the preliminary cost of the new suspended highway is put at Rp. 1.4 trillion or US$155 million.
Introducing JDR
Meanwhile, a report in NusaBali
makes a new addition to the Bali lexicon. While the name for the
originally proposed toll-way bridge project is locally referred to as
"Jembatan Serangan Tanjung Benoa" or "STB" the name now given to the suspended highway over the mangrove forest is "Jalan di Atas Rawa" or "JDR."