Bridge project to link Batam and Bintan

Salim Osman, INDONESIA CORRESPONDENT
758 words
1 February 2007
Straits Times
English
(c) 2007 Singapore Press Holdings Limited

China firm keen to build $507m bridge, touted as an economic development tool

IN JAKARTA - A CONSTRUCTION company from China has offered to build a 7-km bridge connecting Batam and Bintan islands at a cost of three trillion rupiah (S$507 million).

The China Railways Construction Corporation (CRCC) made the offer to the provincial government of Riau Islands (Kepri) at a meeting last Friday, saying that it had set aside US$350 million (S$538 million) as the initial outlay for the project.

'We have been studying it for a long time and we are interested in it,' CRCC group chairman Jeffry Tong said at the meeting.

A CRCC delegation had spent about a week meeting provincial government officials, including Riau islands governor Ismeth Abdullah, legislators, and the Batam Industrial Development Authority (Bida).

Mr Ismeth said that his regional government and the Chinese company were set to sign a memorandum of understanding next month.

'The Chinese investor is apparently very eager to secure the project, compared to those from other countries, such as Malaysia, but it still has to go through the tender process, which will be open to the public,' he was quoted as saying by The Jakarta Post.

The idea of the bridge connecting the islands was first brought up by Bida in April 2005, as a way to promote the development of the two islands.

Bida spokesman Dwi Djoko told The Straits Times that the structure would actually consist of three bridges, spanning a total distance of around 7 km.

The first bridge, at a length of 2.2km, would connect Batam to Tanjung Sauh island. The second bridge, stretching 3.9km, would connect with Buau-Buau island, and the last bridge would cover the remaining 900m to Bintan island.

Mr Djoko said that the entire bridge would facilitate travel between the two islands. A trip by ferry between the two islands, which takes about one hour, can be crunched into a 10-minute affair by road.

'The improvement in communication links would be a boost for investment in the area which we are opening up to foreign investors,' he said, adding that the project would help promote growth in both Batam and Bintan.

The provincial capital of the Riau islands, Tanjung Pinang, is located on Bintan, which covers 1,776 sq km, and has a population of 300,000.

Mr Djoko said the bridge project will also serve as the conduit for water supply and gas pipes as well as electric cables between Bintan and Batam.

'This bridge is timely because we can source water from Bintan to Batam, which always faces water shortage,' he said.

Mr Djoko said that feasibility studies and design of the project had been carried out by Bida and the Research and Industry Affiliation Centre of the Bandung Institute of Technology.

The head of the economic commission in the regional parliament, Mr Andi Anhar Chalid, was confident that if the project were to take off, it would offer at least 5,000 jobs to locals.

Despite the interest shown by the Chinese company, the regional government will still call an open tender for the contract to build the bridges, said Mr Djoko.

Meanwhile, an academic has slammed the bridge project, saying that it would benefit the political ambitions of people involved more than the province itself.

Mr Muchid Albintani, a political science lecturer at Riau State University, said: 'The Batam authority and the provincial administration should learn a lesson from the Batam, Rempang and Galang (Barelang) Bridge, which was built by former Indonesian president and then-head of the Batam authority, Mr B.J. Habibie, because it has not been effective up till now, except as a recreation facility and a place where lovers court.'

The Barelang Bridge was initially intended to spread the development associated with Batam's industrial boom to six other islands, but it had failed to do so in the nearly 10 years since it opened, he noted.

He said that this current project should be reviewed as it would cost three times the amount of this year's provincial budget.

'It would be better if they fixed the roads in Batam, which are full of potholes, rather than build a bridge without thinking through its effectiveness. There's still no strong reason to connect Batam and Bintan with a bridge, looking from the economic point of view,' Mr Muchid told The Jakarta Post.