Trans-Papua Highway

Trans-Papua Highway
Jalan Raya Trans-Papua
Route information
Length4,325 km (2,687 mi)
Major junctions
South endMerauke, South Papua
ToSorong, Southwest Papua
Location
CountryIndonesia
Provinces
Major cities
Highway system

The Trans-Papua Highway (Indonesian: Jalan Raya Trans-Papua) refers to 12 road segments, some under construction, across Western New Guinea in Indonesia, located in the island of New Guinea. The roads stretch from Sorong to Merauke with a total length of 4,325 km (2,687 mi).[1] As of March 2017, 3,850 km (2,390 mi) of roads had been completed[2] and construction on all the roads was predicted to finish in 2018,[3] but construction was delayed in late 2018 due to armed conflict.

The completed road segments include 884 out of Indonesia's 1,068 km border road with Papua New Guinea.[4] As of May 2017, the remaining parts of the road, including 7,000 meters of bridges, were planned to be completed in 2017 and 2018,[5] although not all of the road has been layered by asphalt. As of October 2020, the road was only 200–300 km from completion.[6]

Road segments

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In West Papua and Southwest Papua

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Unpaved Sorong-Maybrat-Manokwari segment of Trans-Papua Highway, West Papua.

There are 4 road segments in West Papua:[1]

In Papua, Central Papua, Highland Papua, and South Papua

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Paved section of Trans-Papua Highway connecting Deiyai and Mimika

There are 8 road segments in Papua with a total length of 2,345.40 km (1,457.36 mi); of which by the end of October 2019, only 31.96 km is not yet connected. 874,45 km of the connected segments is layered with asphalt, and 1.465,46 km yet to be layered with asphalt. [7]

  • Segment I: Kwatisore-Nabire, 208.10 kilometers (Central Papua)
  • Segment II: Nabire-Wagete-Enarotali, 275.50 kilometers (Central Papua)
  • Segment III: Enarotali-Ilaga-Mulia-Wamena, 469.48 kilometers (Central Papua-Highland Papua)
  • Segment IV: Wamena-Elelim-Jayapura, 447.22 kilometers (Highland Papua-Papua)
  • Segment V: Wamena-Habema-Kenyam-Mumugu, 271.60 kilometers (Highland Papua-South Papua)
  • Segment VI: Kenyam-Dekai, 217.90 kilometers (Highland Papua)
  • Segment VII: Dekai-Oksibil, 231.60 kilometers (Highland Papua)
  • Segment VIII: Wagete-Timika, 224.00 kilometers (Central Papua)

Impact

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Connections of the road opened access to many isolated areas in Papua region, which has not been possible previously.[8] According to Mongabay, while the road brings benefit to native Papuans in terms of availability of goods and access to healthcare facilities, the road also has potentially harmful consequences such as opening way for illegal logging, intensifying contacts between several tribes that could lead to tribal conflicts, and leaving previously isolated towns and villages economically dominated by those from bigger cities.[6][9][8] Analyst of public policies, Agus Pambagio argued that the construction should be advised by anthropologist to take cultural factors into account.[10] The road is also feared to damage Lorentz National Park, which is a protected natural area.[11] Papuan governor Lukas Enembe criticized the road construction, saying that the road "mostly has not been used" by native Papuans.[12] Armed wing of Free Papua Movement rejected the road construction, saying that it is "used for military purposes".[13][14]

Incident

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Main article: Nduga massacre

During the construction of the highway at least 20 construction workers in Nduga were killed by soldiers of the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB),[15] who claimed the highway was meant for military enforcement rather than economic benefit, and was built by military members disguised as civilian workers.[14] As of December 2018, the project is suspended temporarily due to security concerns.[16] In late January 2019, about two months after the attack, project managers said construction would resume using combat engineers from the Indonesian military.[17] About a month later in March, the TPNPB soldiers returned and killed three Indonesian soldiers.[18]

References

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  1. ^ a b Kaway, Rikardo. "Jalan Trans Papua Telah Dibangun, Tudingan Natalius Pigai Keliru". Archived from the original on March 12, 2017. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
  2. ^ "Trans-Papua road set to be completed next year". The Jakarta Post. March 7, 2017.
  3. ^ Aditiasari, Dana (7 Jan 2016). "Ini Penampakan Jalan Trans Papua". Detik. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
  4. ^ Rahadian, Taufik (7 March 2017). Subagja, Indra (ed.). "Jalan Trans Papua Membentang di Atas Pegunungan". kumparan (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2023-03-19.
  5. ^ Hidayati, Nurul (10 May 2019). Muslimah, Salmah (ed.). "Trans Papua, Membelah Gunung Menuruni Lembah". kumparan (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2023-03-19.
  6. ^ a b Elisabeth, Asrida (2020-10-05). "Jalan Trans Papua Hampir Semua Terhubung, Dampak bagi Orang Papua dan Lingkungan?". Mongabay. Retrieved 2020-12-07.
  7. ^ Alexander, Hilda, ed. (October 28, 2019). "Tinggal 31,96 Kilometer Lagi, Seluruh Trans Papua Tersambung".
  8. ^ a b Strangio, Sebastian (27 July 2021). "Adriana Elisabeth on the Conflict in West Papua". thediplomat.com. Retrieved 2021-08-03.
  9. ^ Nauly, Yacob (26 March 2019). "Warga Sorong Rasakan Manfaat Jalan Trans Papua Sorong-Merauke". SUARAKARYA.ID. Retrieved 2021-05-21.
  10. ^ Fadli, Ardiansyah (2021-03-15). Alexander, Hilda (ed.). "Antropolog Harus Dilibatkan, Jangan Sampai Jalan Trans-Papua Jadi Karpet Merah buat Pembalak Liar". KOMPAS.com (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2021-05-21.
  11. ^ Demianus, Jimmy (1 October 2020). "Catatan Untuk Pembangunan Jalan Trans Papua". kumparan (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2021-05-21.
  12. ^ Sadikin, Rendy Adrikni (2019-08-23). "Lukas Enembe: Jalan Trans Papua Bukan untuk Orang Papua". suara.com (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2023-03-19.
  13. ^ Suripati, Chanry Andrew (2018-12-05). "OPM Tak Mau Pembangunan Jalan Trans Papua tapi Ingin Kemerdekaan : Okezone News". news.okezone.com/ (in Indonesian). Retrieved 2021-05-21.
  14. ^ a b Davidson, Helen (5 December 2018). "West Papua: conflicting reports surround attack that killed up to 31". The Guardian.
  15. ^ Tehusijarana, Karina Maharani (7 December 2018). "Papua mass killing: What happened". The Jakarta Post. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
  16. ^ Belau, Arnold (4 December 2018). "Trans-Papua road project suspended amid worsening security". The Jakarta Post. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
  17. ^ "Indonesian military to complete Trans-Papua Highway". Radio New Zealand. 2019-01-30. Retrieved 2020-12-07.
  18. ^ "TNI soldiers killed in clash with West Papua liberation army". Jakarta Post. 2019-03-08. Retrieved 2020-12-07.
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