Image: The airport underpass is open. Credit: Facebook @wayancharlie
The Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, inaugurated the Simpang Tugu Ngurah Rai Underpass on Saturday. He was accompanied by Binamarga General Director of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR), Sugiyartanto, Bali Governor, I Wayan Koster, Badung Regent, Nyoman Giri Prasta and other officials.
Luhut said that he appreciated the work from the project team as the underpass project was completed earlier than scheduled.
Meanwhile, Binamarga General Directorate of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) Ministry, Sugiyartanto, also thanked everyone involved in the project, which was completed 1.5 months earlier than targeted. The underpass was initially built to support the IMF-WB Annual Meeting during October. “We hope that this underpass will reduce the traffic jams in the area at least by 50 percent,” he said to balipost.com.
Bali Governor, I Wayan Koster, also had a few words saying that the underpass is a gift from central government to the Bali regional government to support the IMF-WB meeting and to help solve Bali’s transport problems. He said that even though Bali is one of the world’s favorite tourism destinations and many international events are held on the island, the infrastructure as still one of the main problems. “We hope the central government will continue to support the island’s infrastructure, so Bali can have adequate services in the future,” he said.
From what ST has been told, the traffic situation has become easier to navigate in the airport area – we shall see how effective the underpass is in the long term very soon.
