PT Waskita Toll Road has just divested two toll segments, namely Solo-Ngawi and Ngawi-Kertosono-Kediri. The fund from selling the concession, which sold for Rp2.5 trillion, will be used by the company to fund new infrastructure projects.

PT Waskita Toll Road (WTR) President Director Herwidiakto said that divestment was a business strategy to support the construction of several toll segments which were national strategic projects and investments in other new toll segments.

“After the toll road is operational, a minus gap will occur, but we still have to make a deposit to shareholders. Some [of the deposit] will come from there [the Rp2.5 trillion]. Then, we will invest some [of the fund] in Balikpapan Bay toll road [bridge],” he said on Wednesday (18/12).

Waskita also plans to divest four other toll segments next year.

Herwi mentioned that the four toll segments were Kanci-Pejagan, Pejagan-Pemalang, and Pasuruan-Probolinggo, then the last toll segment would be Medan-Kualanamu, Semarang-Batang, or Pemalang-Batang.

“There are 7 to 10 investors interested in Kanci-Pejagan, Pejagan-Pemalang, and Pasuruan-Probolinggo toll segments. The investors are local and foreign private investors,” he said.

He targets the sale and purchase agreement to be signed in April 2020.

Herwi continued that, for now, Waskita was determining the best private investor to sell the concession of the three toll segments to.

New segments

On a different occasion, Herwi predicts that five toll road segments will be finished in March 2020. A toll segment is also being prepared to operate on a functional basis during Christmas 2019 and New Year’s 2020 holiday.

Herwi said that the construction schedule of the four toll roads was delayed because of land acquisition.

Land plots that have not been acquired are located at different locations, so the toll road cannot be fully connected yet.

“As there are land plots that have not been acquired, we cannot connect [the toll road] because we are hindered [by lands that have not been acquired]. If the lands have been acquired, construction can be carried out quickly,” he explained to Bisnis on Tuesday (17/12).

He mentioned that there were five toll segments that will be finished in March 2020, namely Kayu Agung-Palembang-Betung (Kapal Betung) section 1, Cimanggis-Cibitung section 1, Cibitung-Cilincing section 1, Krian-Legundi-Bunder-Manyar sections 1 to 3, and Bekasi-Cawang-Kampung Melayu (Becakayu) section 1A.

The data from Toll Road Regulatory Agency (BPJT) that is collected by Bisnis shows that the total length of toll roads operated by WTR reaches 81.83 kilometres.

Herwidiakto said that several toll segments that were scheduled to be finished in March 2020 would extend the length of operational toll roads.

Until now, WTR has operated 529 kilometres of toll roads or 11 toll segments. That length is only half of the total concession that WTR owns, which is 1,015 kilometres or 18 toll segments. The ownership of WTR on those 18 segments varies from being the majority owner to being the minority owner.

WTR will operate Kapal Betung toll road section 1 during Christmas and New Year’s holiday.

Data from BPJT observation shows that the physical progress of Kapal Betung toll road section 1 has reached 96.74%.