JAKARTA, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- A senior Indonesian official said Tuesday that government has allocated about 172 million U.S. dollars each year to finance new road projects in Papua to reduce distribution costs in the far-flung easternmost province.
"Government has allocated around 2.3 trillion rupiah (about 172 million U.S. dollars) this year and for the following years," Road Development Director General at the ministry, Arie Setiadi Moerwanti said.
According to him, the allocation takes up 60 percent of the overall budget to finance road projects across the nation. The remaining 40 percent would be used to finance road projects in western region, he added.
The higher road infrastructure allocation for eastern region was part of government efforts to reduce the gap between economic-vibrant western region and the less accessed eastern region, he said.
Indonesia is now intensifying the construction of Trans-Papua road, a road network designed to connect all areas in the province, expected to be fully completed no later than 2019.
By the time the project is accomplished, the Trans-Papua road network would span 4,330.07 kilometers. By the end of this year, 3,963.87 kilometers of Trans-Papua road is expected to be completed, according to the data released by the ministry.
Besides developing the Trans-Papua road network, government also planned to build more than 1,000 kilometers of roads to facilitate border areas in the province.
