The Trans-Sumatra Toll Road (JTTS) project has employed up to 202,468 people, according to state-owned construction firm PT Hutama Karya Director of Operations III Koentjoro.
“The number of workers that have been absorbed on the Trans Sumatra Toll Road during the 2015-2022 construction period eached 202,468 workers, spread across 14 projects,” he said in a statement as quoted by Antara news agency on September 5, 2022.
The 14 toll road projects include the Bakauheni-Terbanggi Besar section, Terbanggi Besar-Pematang Panggang-Kayu Agung, Palembang-Indralaya, Pekanbaru-Dumai, Medan-Binjai, Padang-Sicincin, Indrapura-Kisaran, Sigli-Banda Aceh, Pekanbaru-Bangkinang, Bangkinang-Pangkalan, SP Indralaya-Prabumulih, Bengkulu-Taba Penjung, Prabumulih-Muara Enim and Binjai-Langsa.
According to Koentjoro, the largest absorption of workers was in the construction of the Besar-Pematang Panggang-Kayu Agung toll road, reaching 45,357 workers.
Employees of the toll road business entity (BUJT), as the owner, include project directors, managers, officials, supervision teams (supervisory consultants) and a team of contractors.
In addition, the largest number is workers in the field are construction workers, including foremen, handymen. Hutama Karya prioritized recruiting local workers before bringing in workers from other provinces.
Aside from construction works, the post-operational Trans-Sumatra Toll Roads also create jobs that employ thousands of people.
Hutama Karya employs around 1,980 individuals in the seven JTTS sections it is currently operating, including 1,641 people working in toll road operational services and 339 people working in rest area services.
The workers will continue to be absorbed, as will the number of additional sections that will begin operational soon, particularly the Bengkulu-Taba Penjung and Pekanbaru-Bangkinang sections.
