The building of the longest bridge in Indonesia, the Suramadu spanning 5.4 kilometers from Surabaya to Madura Island, will be completed on time in 2008, according to Minister of Public Works Djoko Kirmanto.

Before officiating at a ceremony marking the start of the construction of the project's main span on Saturday by a Chinese Contractor Consortium (CCC) in Surayaby, the second largest city in the country, Djoko said the Suramadu Bridge will be playing a very significant role in providing access to Madura Island, Antara news agency reported on Monday.

Madura itself, he added, is a major producer of tobacco and some other farm produce, and has various interesting tourist destinations and objects, but lacking in development and promotion because the island has practically no access like the other regions in East Java province.

The budget allocated for the building of the bridge's main span by the CCC, he said, amounted to 1.78 trillion rupiah (178 million US dollars), 10 percent of which will be drawn from the State Budget.

The Indonesian government, he said, under the 2005 budget has disbursed five percent of the budget for the construction of the main span, and up to the end of this year, hopefully the amount could be raised.

The total cost of the building of the Suramadu Bridge amounted to 3.2 trillion rupiah (320 million US dollars), including for the building of the main span, built by the CCC, and the roads at both ends of the project to be build by an Indonesian consortium.

Djoko also said that Indonesian engineers will use the project as a means of technology transfer, and hoped the project would mark the beginning of cooperation between the Indonesian public works ministry and the Chinese government.

Source: Xinhua