Land acquisition issue halts Trans-Sumatra toll road project

Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto said on Monday that the long-awaited Trans-
Sumatra toll road project would not begin this year as previously planned due to land acquisition
problems. "The tender awaits the completion of land acquisition. Therefore, we will focus on
acquiring the land needed to construct the toll road within the next two or three years and
construction will begin after we settle the land acquisition," Djoko said at a media briefing on
Monday.
The 2,700-kilometer toll road project, stretching from Aceh to Lampung and consisting of
23 sections, was previously planned to commence construction this year. The toll road will connect
major cities in Sumatra.
The initial construction comprised four toll road sections, namely Medan-Binjai, Indralaya-
Palembang, Pekanbaru-Dumai and Bakauheni-Terbanggi Besar. In order to construct the toll road,
the goverment needs to acquire 218,976 million square meters of land. The minister acknowledged
that until now, the ministry had acquired only an "insignificant percentage of the land needed to
construct the roads".
He did not mention the exact percentage.
"We estimate that the cost to acquire the land is Rp 15 trillion [US$1.3 billion]. after we
acquire the land, we will protect it againts local residents willfully occupying it," said the ministry's
director general for highways, Djoko Murajanto.
Besides being hindered by land acquisition problems, the ministry is also still waiting for
the issuance of a presidential decree as a legal basis to construct the toll road. Construction will be
carried out by state owned enterprises with funding from the state budget.
The draft decree prepared by the ministry states that should the appointed state owned
enterprises be unable to finish the project, the tasks will be taken over by the ministry. Minister
Djoko said the ministry had submitted the draft revision to the Cabinet secretary and hoped that
the draft would be finalized soon.
He also said the appointment of state owned contractor company PT Hutama Karya had not
been finalized. "What is certain is that state owned enterprises will work on the project," he said.
During the media briefing, Djoko said minister had built 4,401 km of roads over the past 10
years. Based on ministry data, the length of roads built by the ministry in 2004 reached around
34,000 km. The length increased to only 38,401 km in 2014.
Meanwhile, the total length of toll roads in the country reached only 918 km this year,
increasing only 307 km from 2004, the minister added. "Even though the total length of roads has
not increased significantly, we have widened and strengthened roads. The fact is that economic
development outpaces road development. Therefore, the public still complains about traffic jams,"
the minister said, adding that road projects could be accelerated if land acquisition went smoothly.

Source: Jakarta Post, Page 13 / Business / Tuesday, March 25 2014

 FIFA rejects Indonesias
request for meeting

Soccers world governing body FIFA has turned down the Indonesian governments request for a
meeting over the looming threat of a national suspension.

In his letter to the Youth and Sports Ministry, dated May 22, FIFA secretary-general Jerome
Valcke said that the requested meeting was not possible because it would clash with the build-up
to the FIFA Congress scheduled for May 29 in Zurich.

As an initial point, we regretfully inform you that it is not possible to meet your delegation at
short notice given that your requested meeting dates coincide with the week of the 65th FIFA
Congress, Valcke said in the letter, a copy of which was available to The Jakarta Post.

The copy was emailed to the Post by the chairman of the Indonesian Soccer Association (PSSI),
La Nyalla Mattalitti, who had appeared pessimistic about the ministrys plan to meet FIFA
officials.

La Nyalla is currently in Zurich to attend the congress. He said he also used the occasion to
lobby FIFA officials against imposing sanctions on Indonesian soccer.

FIFA, in a previous letter sent to the PSSI, threatened a suspension if the row between the PSSI
and the ministry caused by their differences over the eligibility of two clubs in the Indonesian
Super League was not resolved by May 29.

In Fridays letter FIFA reiterated its threat by urging the ministry to revoke its suspension of the
PSSI.

As the remaining content of your correspondence, we remind you of our correspondence dated
4 May 2015 informing PSSI that all actions taken by the ministry (or its agencies) placing PSSI
in violation of art. 13 and 17 of the FIFA Statutes needed be withdrawn by 29 May 2015, failing
which the matter would be referred to the appropriate FIFA body to consider an immediate
suspension, it said.

Meanwhile, the ministrys assistant for development and partnerships, Gatot S. Dewa Broto, said
he regretted FIFAs refusal to meet the ministrys representatives, saying that they should have
been given the chance to defend the policy.

We regret it. We would love to be given the chance to defend ourselves, Gatot told the Post.

While facing the prospect of a FIFA suspension, Indonesia has been forced to play its World Cup
and Asian Cup qualifier against Iraq in an empty stadium and its home tie against Thailand at a
neutral venue, Reuters reported.

The decision was taken by the Asian Football Confederation after crowd trouble occurred during
two under-23 matches in March against Timor Leste and South Korea in Jakarta.
Indonesia, which was also fined US$20,000 by the AFC and warned of heavier sanctions should
such incidents recur, is scheduled to host Iraq on June 16 after they start their joint qualifying
campaign in Taiwan on June 11.

The Indonesian team then travels to Hanoi to face Vietnam in September before an Oct. 8 clash
at home against Southeast Asian champion Thailand.

But whether Indonesia will be allowed to compete in the 2018 World Cup and 2019 Asian Cup
qualifiers still remains in doubt with the domestic game in lockdown after the season was
cancelled because of the PSSI and ministry row.

The lack of talks between the two parties suggests a FIFA ban is most likely.

Indonesia technical director Peter Hoekstra said a suspension would be hugely damaging and
added that the government row had already harmed his work.

It would be very damaging, the former Dutch and Ajax Amsterdam winger told BBC World
Football, as reported by Reuters.

Unfortunately for us, the ministry stepped in and it looks like they are killing off the initiatives
we tried to bring in.