Jokowi Wants Manado-Bitung Toll Open in October
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1 April 2019 13:23 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Manado - President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo visited the Manado-Bitung toll road construction site during his trip to Manado, North Sulawesi. The president said the toll road is targeted to start operation in six months.
"With God's blessing, hopefully in September—or October at the latest, [the toll road] will have start operating," Jokowi said at the Sam Ratulangi Airport, Monday, April 1.
Widodo tested the toll road while en route to the airport to fly to his next destination, which is Sorong, West Papua Barat. He said that the toll road construction progress has reached 80 percent.
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The Manado-Bitung Toll Road stretches along a 39.9 kilometer highway with two sections. The first section is 14-km long and covers the Ring Road Manado-Sukur-Air Madidi areas. Section 2 is 25 km and it is 32 percent completed.
The Manado-Bitung Toll project is part of the national strategic prokects, which the government hopes can reduce logistic costs between Manado and the Bitung International Port, as well as support Bitung's role as a special economic zone.
The toll road project is an investment worth Rp5.12 trillion, which is expected to shorten travel time between the two areas from two hours to just 30 minutes.
TEMPO.CO
