Jakarta - Minister of Public Works and Housing (PUPR) Basoeki Hadimoeldjono revealed the progress of Underpass Simpang Tugu Ngurah Rai  Bali has reached 40%. The IDR 168,3 billion rupiah’s project is targerted to complete faster on August 2018.

The constuction needs to be accelarate as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Conference will be held in the mid of October 2018. 15 thousand participants estimated to come so there will need a fast way to reach the location.

“The Underpass was build to reduce the traffic in Denpasar and also to support the annual conference of the International Monetary Fund and Wold Bank (IMF-WB) 2018,” Hadimoeldjono explained.

Underpass Simpang Tugu Ngurah Rai is a way where encounter  the 4 directions of various road. Those are towards/from Ngurah Rai Airport, Bali Mandala Toll Road and Denpasar towards Nusa Dua. The 712 meters long underpass with 17 meters width and 5,2 meters high convinced to reduce up to 50% traffic.

The construction will going on three shifting works system. Some roads will be redirected, for example to go to Nusa Dua, Uluwatu and Jimbaran, they can pass through the Bali Mandara toll road, and for those who want to go to Ngurah Rai Airport, they can pass through the Kuta (Tuban) highway.

PUPR urges the contractors to add the heavy equipment and notice the implementation of QHSE (Quality, Heallt, Safety and Environment).

“One of the challenges is we cannot use the equipment that is too high, to avoid the disturbing the airplane operation,” said the head of National Highway  VIII (Balai Besar Pelaksanaan Jalan Nasional), Ketut Darmawahana.