Indonesia to build country's longest bridge linking islands near Singapore

Indos · Dec 21, 2020

July 11, 2019 4:37 PM
Updated a year ago

Indonesia to build country's longest bridge linking islands near Singapore
By Reuters Staff
2 Min Read

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia plans to build a 7 km (4.35 mile) bridge to connect two islands in the Malacca Strait, close to Singapore, as part of efforts to develop industry and tourism in the area, the government said on Thursday.

The bridge connecting Batam and Bintan islands will cost an estimated 4 trillion rupiah ($284.35 million), the office of the cabinet secretary said in a statement on Thursday, and will be the longest in the Southeast Asian country.

Advertisement

The bridge aims to capitalize on expansion of Singapore’s Changi Airport with the development of a new Terminal 5, which will have transport connections to Bintan.

President Joko Widodo, who has made building infrastructure the cornerstone of his first term in office, has pledged to continue cutting bottlenecks Southeast Asia’s largest economy in his second term, which starts in October.

Indonesia to build country's longest bridge linking islands near Singapore

Indonesia plans to build a 7 km (4.35 mile) bridge to connect two islands in the Malacca Strait, close to Singapore, as part of efforts to develop industry and tourism in the area, the government said on Thursday.

www.reuters.com

Indos · Dec 21, 2020

The bidding is set to begin in early 2021 and two giant state owned construction companies, PT Adhi Karya and PT Hutama Karya have shown their interest to build the bridge.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hutama Karya will participate in the Batam Bintan bridge tender

President Joko Widodo alias Jokowi (third right) accompanied by Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko (second right), PUPR Minister Basuki Hadimuljono (right), Head of the Toll Road Regulatory Agency Danang Parikesit (second left) and President Director of PT Hutama Karya (Persero) Bintang Perbowo (third left) observing the Pekanbaru-Dumai Section 1 Pekanbaru-Minas Toll Road in Rumbai, Pekanbaru, Riau, Friday, February 21, 2020. The construction of this toll road is targeted for completion by the end of April 2020.ANTARA / Sigid Kurniawan.

The state-owned construction company PT Hutama Karya (Persero) is interested in participating in the tender for the Batam - Bintan bridge project which will be carried out by the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing in 2021.

This project scheme is a collaboration between the government and business entities. "In principle, Hutama Karya is interested and plans to participate in the auction process using the PPP system where the company has good competence and portfolios in the construction of long-span bridges," said Executive Vice President, Corporate Secretary Hutama Karya Muhammad Fauzan, Friday, November 20, 2020.

In the PPP project auction process, said Fauzan, Hutama Karya is still exploring with other companies to be able to partner and collaborate. Hutama Karya is also still considering several aspects, namely legal aspects, commercial aspects, technical aspects and business aspects, especially the consideration that the PPP project is a long-term project.

Previously reported, the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing stated that the Batam - Bintan (Babin) bridge PPP project will begin the auction stage early next year. Director General of Infrastructure Financing of the Ministry of PUPR, Eko D. Heripoerwanto, explained that the bridge project that connects the two main islands in the Riau Islands has not yet entered the auction process. "Currently, the auction stage is not yet in process.

We hope that the pre-qualification for the Batam - Bintan Bridge project can take place in January 2021," said Eko, Tuesday, November 17, 2020. Eko further explained that the Batam - Bintan bridge project was included in the PPP project plan for the 2021 budget year out of a total of 13 PPP projects in the road and bridge category.

2021, Hutama Karya Bakal Ikut Tender Proyek Jembatan Batam - Bintan

Hutama Karya berminat ikut dalam tender proyek jembatan Batam - Bintan yang akan dilaksanakan oleh Kementerian PUPR tahun depan.

bisnis.tempo.co

Titanium100 · Dec 21, 2020

I really thought I knew the geography of Indonesia but these two Islands slipped past me when I was familiarizing with Indonesia map on google earth they were almost hidden from my view - Batam Island and Bintan Island

Whizzack · Dec 21, 2020

Imagine if we can build a bridge to Singapore as well...

Indos · Dec 21, 2020

Titanium100 said:
I really thought I knew the geography of Indonesia but these two Islands slipped past me when I was familiarizing with Indonesia map on google earth they were almost hidden from my view - Batam Island and Bintan Island

Batam and Bintan islands are part of Riau islands province

Riau islands province itself has very large areas since as an archipelago country, Indonesia own all sea inside our farthest territory. Natuna islands are also part of Riau islands province to give you some perspective of how large it is. We have Riau province and Riau islands province. In the past they are under one province.

Song Hong · Dec 21, 2020

Such a tunnel from Singapore to Batam would just be 12km in aggregate, making use of islands as transitionary points.

It would be around 45km of tunnel from Batam to Sumatera. This is still shorter than Seikan and Channel Tunnels 50++ km.

Indos · Dec 21, 2020

Indos said:
Batam and Bintan islands are part of Riau islands province

Riau islands province itself has very large areas since as an archipelago country, Indonesia own all sea inside our farthest territory. Natuna islands are also part of Riau islands province to give you some perspective of how large it is. We have Riau province and Riau islands province. In the past they are under one province.

View attachment 698369

One interesting story for non-Indonesian is that Riau region (Riau Province (located in some part in mainland Sumatra island)+Riau Islands Province) is the origin of Indonesian language (Malay-Riau language). Other local language like Sundanese (West Java) and Javanese (Central Java+East Java) are much different that even for some one from Indonesia like me doesnt understand it.

Indos · Dec 22, 2020

Batam‐Bintan bridge construction waiting for Jokowi's green light

Fadli
The Jakarta Post

Batam / Mon, January 6, 2020 / 12:29 pm

A view of Barelang Bridge near Batam city, Riau Islands province. The government is planning to build a longer bridge to link the islands of Batam and Bintan in the province. (Antara/Irwansyah Putra)

Construction of a 7-kilometer bridge connecting the islands of Batam and Bintan in Riau Islands province is now waiting for the green light from President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, with the detailed engineering design for the bridge already completed.

The infrastructure coordination undersecretary at the Office of the Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister, Ridwan Djamaluddin, said the Batam-Bintan (Babin) bridge was listed as a strategic project in the government’s 2020-2024 National Mid-Term Development Plan (RPJMN). If realized, the bridge will replace the 5.43-km Surabaya-Madura (Suramadu) Bridge in East Java as the longest bridge in the country. "The Babin bridge project is still in progress.

Batam‐Bintan bridge construction waiting for Jokowi's green light

If realized, the Batam-Bintan bridge will replace the 5.43-kilometer Surabaya-Madura (Suramadu) Bridge in East Java as the longest in the country.

www.thejakartapost.com

Titanium100 · Dec 22, 2020

Indos said:
Batam and Bintan islands are part of Riau islands province

Riau islands province itself has very large areas since as an archipelago country, Indonesia own all sea inside our farthest territory. Natuna islands are also part of Riau islands province to give you some perspective of how large it is. We have Riau province and Riau islands province. In the past they are under one province.

View attachment 698369

I knew about Natuna Islands territory but just Batam and Bintan Islands perhaps due to it's closeness to Singgapore and Malaysia

Indos · Dec 22, 2020

Titanium100 said:
I knew about Natuna Islands territory but just Batam and Bintan Islands perhaps due to it's closeness to Singgapore and Malaysia

Batam is already quite developed but Bintan island which is bigger than Batam in size and has abundant water supply is still relatively empty and less populated. The reason of linking the two islands is to industrialized Bintan more and improve Bintan tourism sector (they have awesome beach that both Batam and Singaporean love to experience).

Batam island

Bintan Island

Some good tourism spot in Bintan

Song Hong · Dec 22, 2020

Meanwhile a 38km bridge can link Malaysia to Indonesia. But I bet it wont be built. Malaysian Malays are good saboteur at all regional cooperation. They only Kowtow to Japanese, Koreans, Jews, USA and Europeans. They act axxhole towards all their neighbours.

Song Hong · Dec 22, 2020

In addition, the Sunda Straits requires 26km of bridge. But this place is visible distance to Kratakau volcano. The bridge must withstand level 8 earthquake.

Hence it is entirely feasible to connect Indonesia to Asian mainland by land.

Whizzack · Dec 22, 2020

And from there continue to Bali with a 4,4 km long bridge

additionally, there's already a bridge (Suramadu) connecting Java and Madura

So technically it's possible to connect a major part of Indonesia to the Asian mainland through the Malacca Strait, either through Malaysia and/or Singapore... Java and Sumatra already are the 2 most populous and industrialized of the 5 main islands in Indonesia, so the potential for cargo and passenger is already there... Ideally these bridges would also support rail and not just road traffic... Actually rail line should be the main mode of transport (with separate lines for cargo and HSR passenger trains) and not road vehicle traffic.

Technical factors aside, there are of course many other factors like financial, economical, national, security and even cultural factors to consider... However it's exciting to imagine that one day a traveler could hop on a train in London, and after an overland Eurasia travel, finally getting off in Bali... in a sort of 21st Century Orient Express...

Indos · Dec 25, 2020

The last marvel bridge construction example so far built by Indonesian state owned constructor companies is Bali toll road (high way) which was built during SBY administration. The bridge has 12.7 km long and it costed 220 million USD (the cost includes the road section in the mainland Bali)

Indos · Mar 13, 2021

OK so latest projection is that the bridge will cost 8.08 trillion Rupiah or around 500 million USD. Double than previous cost estimate. Government will only finance 30 % of the investment cost. Recent news shows the bridge is going to be built starting in 2022.