Indonesia’s provinces and islands have varying levels of development, and this is greatly influenced by the existing transport infrastructure. At project appraisal, the density of the national road network was relatively low and significantly lower in less developed areas, although the country overall had a vast network of roads. Road transport demand was growing significantly, and congestion on the arterial road network was widespread especially in Java.
The Regional Roads Development Project, approved by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for a loan of $180 million in November 2011, was to improve the strategic and national road corridors in North and West Kalimantan and Central and East Java provinces. Its expected impact was increased efficiency of road transport to support integrated and sustainable economic growth along the project corridors. Its intended outcome was improved capacity and safety of national and strategic roads. Its planned outputs were (i) national and strategic roads, and (ii) improved road safety, road investment planning, overloading control, and capacity of road agencies.
Project implementation experienced significant delays ─ initially due to delays in consultant recruitment and civil works procurement, and subsequently because of the need to re-tender one civil works package and undertake contract variations to address technical challenges and rectify poor engineering designs. Additions to the scope of works also contributed to delays, and caused the project to be extended twice for a total of 27 months.
At completion, the project constructed or improved 18 road sections of national highways and strategic roads totaling 486.1 kilometers (km), exceeding the target of 476 km. The works included new construction, reconstruction, and widening and re-surfacing. Equipment was provided and awareness campaigns and trainings conducted to strengthen road safety consciousness and enforcement. The project also supported the formulation of the country’s Transport Sector Development Strategy and the midterm transport sector development plan, 2020–2024; enhanced key sector agency capacity in the construction and maintenance of roads and bridges; and provided construction workers and surrounding communities with sufficient awareness on human trafficking and HIV-AIDS prevention. The integrated vehicle overloading control subproject was cancelled, as advised by the Ministry of Transport (MOT) in September 2017.
Successful attainment or over-attainment of all the remaining six output targets enabled the project to fully achieve or overachieve its outcome targets. The volume/capacity ratio along the southern Java road corridors was reduced from 0.8 to less than 0.5, and the traffic volume on the North Kalimantan roads increased from an average of 535 vehicles per day in 2008 to an average of 2,604 vehicles per day in 2019, exceeding the target of doubling traffic volume from 2010 to 2018. Road accident fatalities on the project corridors were reduced from 15 deaths per 10,000 vehicles to fewer than 10 by the end of 2016.
The improved road transport networks supported economic growth ─ gross domestic product (GDP) in the nine project districts increased by an average of 57.9% during 2010–2018, while GDP in the four project provinces increased by an average of 51% over the same period. Unit vehicle operating costs on the project roads declined by 31% on average. However, as the border gate in North Kalimantan had not yet opened as of the project completion review mission and cross-border trade data for the new border crossing in West Kalimantan was lacking, project achievements related to cross-border transport costs and trade volume could not be assessed.
The project had the Directorate of General Highways (DGH) as executing agency. The DGH established a project management office to take charge of day-to-day implementation. Three other agencies – the MOT, the National Traffic Police Corps, and the National Planning Agency (BAPPENAS) – initially had key roles in implementing specific components of the project. But the MOT formally withdrew from the project in 2017.
