Land Acquisition for Indonesia's Longest Bridge Resolved

TheIndonesia.id - Head of Regional Agrarian and Spatial Planning Office/ Riau Islands National Land Agency (ATR/ BPN) Askani claimed that land acquisition for the construction of the 75-hectare Batam-Bintan bridge as requested by Governor Ansar Ahmad has been resolved. The land was spread over Batam Island, Bau Island, Tanjung Sauh, and Bintan Island.

The land acquisition for the bridge connecting Batam City and Bintan Regency, which is also the longest in Indonesia, was completed according to the target in 2021.

"Thank God, it has been completed. We just have to wait for the finalization of the appraisal team's assessment, which ends today. After that, we will continue with meeting for payment next week," said Askani in Tanjungpinang as quoted by Antara news agency, Tuesday, December 14, 2021.

The land acquisition process was fully assisted by the High Court of Riau Islands Province, Riau Islands Prosecutor Office, and the Riau Islands Regional Police so that various problems could be resolved properly. The Riau Islands ATR/BPN Regional Office, he said, was very prudent in terms of land acquisition. Learning from experience, he said, land problems do not arise today but could be five or ten years into the future.

Land acquisition is sometimes involving land mafias. But for this one, he is grateful that all land acquisition activities went smoothly without a hitch.

"With the assistance of the Prosecutor's Office and the Riau Islands Police, hopefully, there will be no problems until the end," he said.

The Riau Islands Provincial Government in the 2021 Budget has allocated IDR 50 billion or USD 3.5 million for land acquisition of the 15-kilometer long bridge.