3,800 Km of Indonesia Roads Severely Damaged

VIVAnews - Ministry of Public Works said 3,800 kilometers of national roads, or 10 percent of their total length, have been severely damaged.

"Our national roads are 38,500 kilometers long," said Public Works Ministry Bina Marga (Highway) Director General, Djoko Murjanto, said on Thursday.  

Djoko said most damages have affected Moluccas, North Moluccas, Southeast Sulawesi, West Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, North Sulawesi, North Sulawesi, Papua, West Papua, Central Sulawesi, and Gorontalo. "We call them area III," he said. 

The level of damage in the area reaches 17.7 percent, far above area I and II at 11.8 percent and 7.9 percent respectively. 

Djoko said the government will improve road quality in area III in effort to reduce damage level by 0.5 percent. 

"We're targeting that by the end of 2014, the damaged national roads will only remain six percent," he said. 

The government has allocated Rp4.5 trillion to repair the roads in eastern Indonesia, especially Papua and West Papua.