Govt Needs Extra Time to Fix Comal Bridge  

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Djoko Murjanto, the director general of the Transportation Ministry’s Bina Marga (Highway), said it would take at least one and a half months to repair the roads on the Comal Bridge that collapsed on Thursday, July 17, 2014.

“It will take one and a half months to fix them permanently,” Djoko told Tempo on Sunday, July 20, 2014.

Djoko said the bridge would remain open only to light vehicles on Thursday, July 24 for the Eid homecoming rush. He added, however, that the section open to vehicles was only the bridge’s northern part that was used by vehicles from Jakarta. “The heavy ones will be channeled to the center and southern parts,” he said.

Commenting on the issue, Lukki Nugrahawan, the head of the Indonesian Logistics and Forwarders Association (ALFI), said the bridge should be repaired immediately to keep the smooth traffic of logistics from Java island’s eastern to western parts and vice versa.

Lukki estimated the road collapse would not stymie the logistics traffic until the first day of Eid al Fitr. “But once the Idul Fitri is over, the Comal Bridge will again become the foothold,” he told Tempo on Sunday, July 20, 2014.

KHAIRUL ANAM