PAPUA – Regent of Pegunungan Bintang Papua Province Spei Yan Bidana, ST, M, Si inaugurated Digul 1 Bridge located in Imsin Village, Iwur District. The inauguration of this bridge was marked by the signing of an inscription by Regent Spei Bidana accompanied by Pegubin Regional Secretary Jeni Linthin, SH, M, Si along with a number of OPD leaders, while ribbon cutting was carried out alternately by Deputy Chief of Pegubin Police Kompol Micha Toding and Liaison Officer (Pabung) Kodim 1715/Yahukimo Captain Supriyadi.
Regent Spei Bidana and his entourage arrived at 09.00 WIT at the Digul 1 Bridge location in Isin Village, Iwur District and were welcomed by local traditional dances and ceremonies, hundreds of residents from the Iwur District and its surroundings had come since morning to welcome their leader with a stone ceremony, because this was the moment they had been waiting for for 22 years, starting from the establishment of Pegunungan Bintang Regency. “Thanks to the help of Almighty God and the ancestral nature of Iwur, Awinbon, Kawor and its surroundings, I officially signed the inauguration inscription of Digul 1 Bridge,” said Regent Spei shortly before signing the inscription and was greeted with loud applause from all the people present.
Regent Spei Bidana said that the bridge was built using Pegubin’s 2023 APBD budget worth approximately Rp 16 billion. The completion of this bridge also dismissed the doubts of many parties in Pegubin, because the level of geographical isolation in this region is very high which only relies on air transportation access, this has an impact on the high cost of material transportation and takes a long period of work, The presence of the Digul Bridge is able to open road access connecting the Eastern route, namely Iwur-Tarup-Papua New Guinea (PNG), and to the South connecting Iwur-Dewok-Boven Digoel, to the West connecting Iwur-Kawor-Awinbon, and to the North connecting Iwur-Kalomdol-Oksibil. The former Head of Pegubin Bappeda emphasized that with the use of the Digul Bridge, in the future his party will encourage the Ministry of PUPR to build three Cross-Border Posts (PLBN) in Pegubin at three locations, namely:
- Batom location,
- Okyop location,
- Kwrok location in Tarup District.
Head of the Public Works and Public Housing Office of Pegunungan Bintang Yance Tapyor, ST, M.AP explained, as for the details of the Digul Bridge construction funds sourced from the 2023 Pegubin APBD. “First, the procurement of our tools is budgeted at around Rp. 2 billion, then the upper floor casting until completion costs Rp. 14 billion, and so the total budget reaches Rp. 16 billion, for the convenience and smoothness of this road access in 2025 it will improve the Oksibil-Iwur road section as far as 25 kilometers to the bridge and also the location of the Oksibil Microhydro Power Plant “. Yance Tapyor said