The eastern part of Indonesia, namely Papua, has a centralized administration into two provinces (West Papua Province and Papua Province). The development of this area is increasing day by day in only a few aspects. However, the results achieved are still not expected, such as network infrastructure. Here is some information related to the transportation development in Papua.
Infrastructure Development in Papua
From one administration to the next during the last forty years, the accelerated development of Papua continues to give birth to new ideas. It presents a more difficult challenge to develop the territory of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia. The idea and concept of accelerating regional development is the construction of a network of infrastructure systems in Papua.
Road network planning includes inter-provincial, inter-city connectivity on the north coast and the central mountains. However, there are problems with road construction in areas near the beach. In the development of transportation infrastructure, rivers are an important element. During the construction carried out in recent years, the road network has slowly developed due to its difficulties.
As a result, accessibility and mobility are dominated by limited air transport and expensive transportation. From these obstacles, the government seeks to overcome these obstacles effectively. The expectation for West Papua can harmonize development, economic growth, and the welfare of its citizens with other regions in Indonesia equally and fairly.
Factors Affecting Infrastructure Development in Papua
1. Population
The human population is the main development target in the progress of Papua. Each development aims to improve the welfare and quality of human life. Population data is the main one to find out the whole population. The number of Papuans is more or less the same as the population in other areas such as Yogyakarta, with a much narrower scope.
The small population is an obstacle to the lack of development speed due to the difficulty of obtaining human resources and labor in carrying out the action. Particular attention is needed to apply certain frameworks in the infrastructure development process in Papua. In addition, the criteria for accelerating Papua’s development are increasing day by day.
2. Soil Condition
Soil conditions are an aspect that affects development in West Papua. One that stands out is identifying areas that do not have large groundwater. Most regions of Papua have minimal groundwater potential. But in the middle of the bottomless area has a river. The rest have shallow groundwater potential, which is not good.
The geological description of Papua provides information that there are several types of layers in the soil. It includes limestone or dolomite (southern and central), igneous rock in the central mountains, and isup island near the bird’s head. Meanwhile, the south part of the western province (bird’s head) and the northern coast of Papua have loose sedimentary structures, gravel, sand, and silt.
If viewed in detail, the northern and central parts of the bird’s head are around Fak-Fak and are formed from sedimentary units. In other words, the type of soil that dominates Papua is latosol, and the middle part consists of podzolic soil. Furthermore, with dominant mountains, Biak Island has groundwater potential with limestone geology, Sensia Mediterranean soil.
The soil condition is influenced by the slope of more than 65% of the area and is dominant. It occurs in the central, northern, and the significant regions of the bird’s head. Other sites are in West Papua, generally dominated by steep hills. Meanwhile, there are flat areas with slopes of less than 3%, especially on the south coast of Papua, which has better soil conditions.
3. Infrastructure System
The development of expansion in the city is currently still reaching towns along the coast. There is only a small percentage of developing areas in Papua compared to the area of Papua as a whole. The problem that has not been solved so far is how to access other places in the hills and mountains of Papua. Until now, air transportation has become limited and expensive freight transportation.
That is why the acceleration of land transportation network development is being developed day by day. It consists of transportation using the river, which is necessary for accessing the Central Papua region to accelerate growth. Therefore, maximum efforts are needed in continuing development. More precisely, choosing which infrastructure should be prioritized.
However, there are several elements of infrastructure development activities that need attention, such as cement factories, road development, power plants, telecommunications network systems, telematics, and the internet. All of these developments must be prioritized as the main supporters of information development other structures in West Papua.
In conclusion, the government effort needs to support the mobility of land transportation and industry in Papua. After focusing on building in coastal areas, the development of road and traffic infrastructure will become a priority in the future. With these developments, Papua will get the future changes as a province.
1 Trackback / Pingback
Comments are closed.