Infrastructure development in Indonesia

Have you ever heard the news of Suramadu bridge ? suramadu stands for surabaya madura in Indonesia. This bridge is basically the longest and newest bridge in South East Asia. This bridge just recently opened for public.
I won't discuss more on this bridge but would like to discuss more on infrastructure development in indonesia. Comparing to neighbor countries Indonesia clearly is lack of infrastructure in term of quantity and quality. Soekarno Hatta airport had been overcrowded and lack of essential facilities ( clean toilet and etc ) if we compared it with Changi airport,KLIA or Suvarnhabumi. Also massive traffic jams in Jakarta basically shows another lack of infrastructure.
Having good infrastructure is very important to :
a. attract investment especially from overseas
b. better efficiency in the economic process ( less amount of petrol and time wasted and etc. )
c. creating jobs ( infrastructure project can absorb a lot of workers with low qualification so reducing joblessness ).
d. enhance the security and also cooperation among regions

The government has been trying to improve the infrastructure and with the recent election result I believe this efforts will be intensified.
Clearly on my point of view as Indonesian and travelling quite significantly overseas several important and strategic projects need to be initiated by government as follow :
1.Bridge linking sumatera and jawa
Sumatera and Jawa is the two most important and populous islands in Indonesia.
Linking them basically will help the economic and social exchange as well between this two islands in Indonesia.
But again :
a.the distance is quite long
b.techically challenging
c.need massive costs

If I'm not wrong,Tommy Winata,one of Indonesia tycoon sponsored the feasibility study of this Java Sumatera bridge. We'll know the result of it in couple of years though and if it's feasible will be followed by may be 5- 10 years development

2.MRT in Jakarta
currently under study for the 1st link and supported by Japan.
This is one of the way to reduce massive traffic jams in Jakarta.
Bangkok as the city with almost same size and almost the same population already has MRT and also Bangkok Train which helping them to reduce traffic jams.
Clearly Jakarta needs more than 1 link of MRT in the future.

3.High speed rail from Soekarno Hatta airport to Jakarta city center
Currently under study as well. The plan is to link Soekarno Hatta airport to Manggarai station.
Singapore,KL and Bangkok already have this high speed rail link in place with varied quality.
Currently only car,taxi and bus are the option in Soekarno Hatta airport.

4.Highway in Java and Sumatera
As two most important islands in Indonesia it's a must to have more highways ( both quantity and quality ).
It's like a blood vein for economic activity and people movement

5.Highway linking Semarang - Solo - Yogyakarta
I studied in Yogya before so clearly know that this link is important and can be very useful as it will link 3 major cities in central Java.

6.Bigger airport in major cities
Government has started it with airport in Soekarno Hatta ( terminal 3 ),Palembang airport,Kuala Namu airport,Sultan Hasanuddin airport.
But several other cities need bigger airport such as :
a.Balikpapan
as the main entry poin to resource rich province, East Kalimantan

b.Denpasar
as we expect more tourists will come to Bali and Lombok in the future


7. Infrastructure in remote but strategic place
For example : Biak in Papua ( future satellite launching ) ,Morotai nearby Halmahera,Natuna ( oil rich blocks ),Tarakan / Nunukan ( nearby disputed Ambalat block ),Sabang.

8.Double double track rail link in Java and Sumatera
since Java and Sumatera already has the rail link ( Dutch built it before during the occupation period ) so it is easier to improve and add it so that faster train can be utilized. With faster and safer train I'm very sure people will comeback to use it again.

9.Highway linking Surabaya - Malang
If this highway can be built again so the movement is easier,help the economic and of course people then can use suramadu bridge to go to madura island after that.
We can emulate the success stories of highway linking Jakarta - Bandung which clearly make many Jakartans willing to go to Bandung every weekend eventhough it also cause massive jams in Bandung.

10.Ports especially in major exporting areas
For example : Kendal,Central Java; Tanjung Priok,Jakarta;Tanjung Api-api,South Sumatera.


That's just some of my thoughts. I can only say it's very important for Indonesia to improve its infrastructure in the next 5- 10 years to be able to compete with other countries.