Jakarta –
Pontianak will have a new bridge that crosses the Kapuas River, named Garuda Bridge. This bridge was initiated by PT Kapuas Berkah Illahi in collaboration with the contractor China State Construction Overseas Development Shanghai.
Main Director of Kapuas Berkah Illahi Karsono said that this project would be worked on under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) scheme. Its construction is claimed without the use of APBN and APBD.
His party has prepared investment funds of up to IDR 1 trillion more to build the bridge which will be named the Garuda Bridge. The bridge connects Bardan and Siantan roads.
The construction of the bridge being carried out by the Chinese side is targeted to be completed in 2024. Karsono said that this bridge is targeted to carry out a ground breaking in March 2023. Until now, his party is still waiting for the PUPR Ministry’s recommendation to carry out the development.
If everything goes according to plan, if the ground breaking can be carried out in March, his party will carry out the construction of the bridge for 14 months.
“If we can have ground breaking in March, maybe in mid-2024, in June, the construction can be completed,” said Karsono when met detikcom at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Central Jakarta, Thursday (2/2/2023).
Bridge Becomes ‘Shortcut’
Karsono explained that this bridge was made to overcome the problem of congestion and the very long travel time from downtown Pontianak to the northern area. The bridge with a span of 700 meters will connect Jalan Bardan and Siantan on both sides.
According to him, this bridge will cut a lot of travel time for the people in Pontianak. The community is estimated to only need 5-15 minutes to reach the northern Pontianak area with this bridge.
He explained that all this time the travel time was very long because they had to use a ferry. It takes 1-2 hours to take turns taking the ferry, even though the river is only hundreds of meters across.
“We think there are lots of benefits to be gained. With this bridge, it only takes 5 minutes and 15 minutes. Now the condition is bad, it can take up to 1-2 hours because it uses a ferry even though the distance is only hundreds of meters,” said Karsono.
Karsono added that if you don’t want a ferry, the solution is to take a detour which is quite a distance away. “If you want to go around, you have to turn around the road to the next district, approximately 10-15 km can take 1-2 hours, especially if there is traffic jams,” he said.
In line with Karsono, Pontianak Mayor Edi Rusdi Kamtono explained that this bridge was needed to support the accessibility of downtown Pontianak to the north. So far, mobility still relies on ferries, which take a long time.
“So this needs accessibility to connect the area. Pontianak is divided by the Kapuas River, so mobility accelerated access from the city center to the north requires a bridge. So far it’s only been connected by ferry and it’s taking too long,” said Edi at the same place.
“We plan according to the spatial layout of the city area, namely a bridge. We need investment. That’s why there are those who are interested in this to be called the Garuda Bridge,” he said.
For information, naming Garuda Bridge itself was carried out as a tribute to the Pontianak hero Sultan Hamid II who designed the Garuda symbol as the symbol of the Indonesian state.
(p/das)
