SUNDA STRAIT BRIDGE

A DEVELOPMENT GEOGRAPHY VIEW

Jamal Habibur Rahman

Taruna Nusantara Senior High School Magelang

Central Java Province, Indonesia

The Sunda Strait Bridge (Indonesian: Jembatan Selat Sunda, JSS, Jembatan Selsun,

sometimes referred to in English-language reports as the SSB) is a planned road and

railway megaproject between the two large Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Java. The

suggestion for a bridge was reportedly first put forward in 1960 by Professor Sedyatmo

from Institut Teknologi Bandung as a part of broader plans, known as Tri Nusa Bimasakti,

means The Milky Way of Three Islands, to link the three islands of Sumatra, Java and Bali.

Construction of the bridge would be an ambitious project, being much more

expensive than any other single infrastructure investment yet carried out in Indonesia. If the

project goes ahead as planned, it would join the list of the world's most expensive transport

infrastructure.

The project, with an initial estimated minimum cost of at least US$10 billion but

probably considerably more, is for a series of bridges carrying a six lane highway and double

track railway traversing the three islands of Prajurit, Sangiang, and Ular in the strait. The

upper structure with a span of 3,300 meters would be like the Messina Strait Bridge inItaly,

while the lower structure with a span of 1,991 meters would be similar to the Akashi Kaikyō

Bridge in Japan. Officials in the consortium that plan to build the bridge originally hoped that

construction would begin in 2012 but even the plan to prepare a feasibility study was delayed

beyond 2012. It is currently (early 2013) hoped that a feasibility study will be prepared in

2013. There were originally hopes are that that the first travellers might cross the bridge as

early as 2020 although the likely completion date is tending to drift because of delays in

discussions about plans for the project.

There are different views as to the most appropriate design for the details of the bridge, and

even as to whether the construction of a bridge is the best way of easing the current serious

transport bottlenecks for movement between Java and Sumatra. Alternatives which some

observers favour are the construction of a tunnel or, more simply, improvements to the

existing intensively used ferry services.

One of the various possible designs that has been mentioned involves a project of around

27 km in length with the following sections alternating across land and water:

Possible sections of Sunda Strait Bridge (illustrative example)

Section Length (km) Structure Location

Section I 4.9 Road Java to Ular Island

Section II 6.5 Suspension bridge Ular Island to Sangiang Island

Section III 6.5 Road Across Sangiang Island

Section IV 4.0 Suspension bridge Sangiang Island to Prajurit Island

Section V 5.4 Road Prajurit Island to Sumatra

Total 27.3

One of the difficult technical challenges to be considered is the fact that the strait lies in one

of the world's most dangerous earthquake zones. Sumatra is frequently rocked by significant

tremors; more than 170,000 people in Aceh in northern Sumatra were killed when a 9.0-

magnitude quake in December 2004 triggered a tsunami. Many active volcanoes lie in the

area, including Krakatoa only 40 km away. The best known eruption of Krakatau in

1883 culminated in a series of massive explosions that killed tens of thousands of people.

The bridge would significantly cut the travel time across the Sunda Strait which takes several

hours by ferry. Some 20 million people crossed the strait in 2006 and the figure is forecast to

double by 2020. The bridge would connect Java, with a population (2011) of around 140

million, with Sumatra (population around 52 million). A bridge might encourage

some Jabodetabek commuters to move to Lampung province in southern Sumatra

from Banten in West Java. The capital Jakarta lies some 100 km (65 mi) to the east of the

strait, on Java. Java is the most populous island in the world, and Sumatra is fifth.