President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) emphasized the importance of qualified road infrastructure to support production activities in an area.
Jokowi made the statement after reviewing the Liang Melas Datas Road in Karo District, North Sumatra Province, which became the access road to reach the orange producers’ area in Jeruk Village, Karo District.
“Qualified road infrastructure is needed to reduce the distribution cost of oranges. Do not let the orange price become Rp5 thousand, while the delivery cost is Rp8 thousand,” he noted on Friday.
Jokowi is optimistic that the Liang Melas Datas Road would help to ease the logistics costs of oranges produced in the area. He was also upbeat that the commodity produced by local farmers can compete with imported oranges.
“We hope that with road improvement, the cost structure, especially the logistics costs, would decrease, and the oranges would be distributed to all cities at competitive prices,” Jokowi affirmed.
In addition to reducing the logistics costs, improving access to roads is also considered to boost the profits of farmers. Hence, the government will continue to improve access roads for production activities to increase the domestic commodity prices.
“The minister of public works and public housing had calculated that we need about 40 thousand kilometers of production roads, which we really need to repair and build to save some logistics costs,” Jokowi conveyed.
He has also instructed Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno to improve the packaging and branding of each commodity produced by farmers in the country for supporting a higher selling value.
“I want our local product to have better packaging and branding to raise the price of our farmers’ products,” Jokowi noted.
Based on data from the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing, the handling of the 37.2-kilometer Liang Melas Datas Road will cost Rp164.8 billion for the 2022-2023 fiscal year.
The government is optimistic that the improvement of road infrastructure can provide benefits for the surrounding community in accelerating travel times, reducing logistics costs, and facilitating the transportation of agricultural commodities.
In addition, Jokowi is optimistic that the Liang Melas Datas Road would improve the economic welfare of surrounding communities.
Also accompanying the president during his visit to North Sumatra were Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno, Minister of Public Works and Public Housing Basuki Hadimuljono, North Sumatra Governor Edy Rahmayadi, and Head of Karo District Cory Sriwaty Sebayang.
Source: Antara News