Much to the relief of anyone traveling around South Bali, after months on end of road work and worse-than-usual traffic, the Simpang Tugu Ngurah Rai underpass is finally open, ahead of target.
The underpass runs in a north-south direction through the roundabout in front of Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport. As the main link between the Bukit Peninsula and the rest of the island, it’s been a critical point of congestion in Bali, so Saturday’s inauguration of the underpass has been eagerly awaited.
Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, inaugurated the underpass on Saturday. The opening of the underpass is one and a half months ahead of schedule, according to the minister.
“We are grateful that the process was 1.5 months faster than the work contract, which ends Oct. 20,” Pandjaitan said, as quoted by VIVA News.
However, another factor determining the speed of the project is not just the expiry of the work contract, but also the fast-approaching IMF-World Bank meeting held on Oct. 8 to 15 that will bring in some 17,000 international delegates.
The project, which ended up costing around IDR168.38 billion (US$11.3 million), is supposed to break up 50 percent of the congestion, according to the minister.
The underpass stretches a total length of 712 meters with a width of 16 meters and a height of 5.2 meters, reports VIVA.
Prior to the inauguration of the underpass, the tunnel previously went through a trial process conducted by Denpasar City Police. A number of motorists passed through the underpass, mainly from the three contractors PT Adhi Karya, Nindya Karya, and Wira KSO.
It appears we haven’t fully escaped the curse of South Bali traffic, based on a photo posted by citizen journalism site Info Denpasar on Sunday night.
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