Sorong (Antara) – Jalan Jenderal Sudirman in Sorong city, West Papua province, which has been damaged for two years, was quickly resurfaced in the lead up to a visit by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, who will arrive in Sorong on Monday October 4.
As reported by the Antara state-news agency on Saturday October 2, the damaged section of Jalan Jenderal Sudirman, which is located right in front of a petrol station in the Klaligi area of Sorong Manoi district, was resurfaced with asphalt by the public roads department and the West Papua provincial public works office.
The road, which has been damaged for two years, was repaired using a full armada of equipment.
Local people meanwhile were surprised by the road repairs saying they never suspected the road – which had been left damaged for two years – would be repaired in the lead up to Widodo's visit.
Klaligi village resident Musa admitted to being surprised to see the full deployment of heavy machinery to re-asphalt the road, which up until now had just been left damaged.
Musa said there had been frequent traffic accidents due to the damaged road.
"After we checked, it turns out that there is to be a visit by the president to Sorong city on October 4, 2021, so the road was immediately re-asphalted", said Musa.
The head of the Sorong city public works office, J Sinaga, said that the community had already complained about the damaged road.
"But Jalan Jenderal Sudirman in Sorong city is not under the authority of the Sorong city regional government, but under the authority of the provincial [government] and the public roads [department]", said Sinaga. (jbr/hri)
Notes
On October 2 President Joko Widodo traveled to Papua to officially launch the opening ceremony of the 20th National Games (PON XX) at the Lukas Enembe Stadium in Jayapura district.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Jalan di Sorong Papua Diaspal Jelang Jokowi Datang, Sudah 2 Tahun Rusak".]
