Trans-Papua Highway

The Trans-Papua Highway (Indonesian: Jalan Raya Trans-Papua) refers to 12 road segments, some under construction, across Papua and West Papua provinces of 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 (see Security).

Trans-Papua Highway Jalan Raya Trans-Papua (Indonesian)
Route information
Length	4,325 km (2,687 mi)
Major junctions
South end	Merauke, Papua
To	Sorong, West Papua
Location
Countries	Indonesia
Major cities	Manokwari, Nabire, Tanahmerah, Bintuni, Wamena, etc
Highway system
Asian Highway Network

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

In West Papua

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

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

• Sorong-Manokwari
• Manokwari-Bintuni-Aroba-Teluk Arguni
• Fakfak-Hurimber-Bomberay
• Sorong-Mega Moraid

In Papua

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

• Segment I: Kwatisore-Nabire, 208.10 kilometers
• Segment II: Nabire-Wagete-Enarotali, 275.50 kilometers
• Segment III: Enarotali-Ilaga-Mulia-Wamena, 469.48 kilometers
• Segment IV: Wamena-Eleum-Jayapura, 447.22 kilometers
• Segment V: Wamena-Habema-Kenyam-Mumugi, 271.60 kilometers
• Segment VI: Kenyam-Dekai, 217.90 kilometers
• Segment VII: Dekai-Oksibil, 231.60 kilometers
• Segment VIII: Wagete-Timika, 224.00 kilometers

Incident

During the construction of the highway at least 20 construction workers in Nduga were killed by gunmen affiliated with Free Papua Movement,[8] who claimed the highway was meant for military enforcement rather than economic benefit, and was built by military members disguised as civilian workers.[9] As of December 2018, the project is suspended temporarily due to security concerns.[10] In late January 2019, about two months after the attack, project managers said construction would resume using combat engineers from the Indonesian miliarty.[11] About a month later in March, another attack took place by the Free Papua Movement on Indonesian soldiers.[12]

References

1. "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". March 7, 2017.
3. Dana Aditiasari. "Ini Penampakan Jalan Trans Papua". Retrieved March 10, 2017.
4. "Jalan Trans Papua Membentang di Atas Pegunungan". March 7, 2017.
5. "Trans Papua, Membelah Gunung Menuruni Lembah". May 10, 2017.
6. Elisabeth, Asrida (2020-10-05). "Jalan Trans Papua Hampir Semua Terhubung, Dampak bagi Orang Papua dan Lingkungan?". Retrieved 2020-12-07.
7. Hilda B Alexander (October 28, 2019). "Tinggal 31,96 Kilometer Lagi, Seluruh Trans Papua Tersambung".
8. Post, The Jakarta. "Papua mass killing: What happened". The Jakarta Post. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
9. "West Papua: conflicting reports surround attack that killed up to 31". The Guardian. 5 December 2018.
10. Post, The Jakarta. "Trans-Papua road project suspended amid worsening security". The Jakarta Post. Retrieved 2018-12-13.
11. "Indonesian military to complete Trans-Papua Highway". Radio New Zealand. 2019-01-30. Retrieved 2020-12-07.
12. "TNI soldiers killed in clash with West Papua liberation army". Jakarta Post. 2019-03-08. Retrieved 2020-12-07.