Govt to equip four toll roads as emergency runways for fighter jets

By Romel S. Gurky

The government is preparing four toll road sections to serve as emergency runways for military aircraft as part of efforts to strengthen national defense while expanding the strategic role of transport infrastructure, the Public Works Ministry said.

The initiative is aligned with President Prabowo Subianto's policy of integrating civilian infrastructure into national defense planning, the ministry said in a statement last week.

Public Works Minister Dody Hanggodo said the designated toll roads would continue operating normally but could be converted into emergency landing strips for Indonesian Air Force fighter aircraft during emergencies.

"The use of toll roads as emergency runways demonstrates that infrastructure built by the Ministry of Public Works serves a dual purpose—not only supporting public mobility and logistics but also strengthening national defense preparedness," Dody said.

The four toll road sections are the Banda Aceh-Sigli Toll Road in Aceh, the Jakarta-Cikampek II South Toll Road in West Java, the Terbanggi Besar-Pematang Panggang-Kayu Agung Toll Road in Sumatra, and the Probolinggo-Banyuwangi Toll Road in East Java.

The ministry said the designated runway sections would range from about 3 km to 3.5 km after planned extensions, depending on the location. The Banda Aceh-Sigli section, currently about 2.8 km long, will be extended by 1 km, while the Jakarta-Cikampek II South section will be lengthened to around 3.5 km.

Indonesia tested the concept in February, when the Air Force successfully landed and took off EMB-314 Super Tucano and F-16 fighter aircraft on a section of the Terbanggi Besar-Pematang Panggang-Kayu Agung Toll Road in Sumatra.

The exercise marked the first successful landing of fighter aircraft on an Indonesian toll road and demonstrated that the infrastructure met technical requirements for emergency military operations, the ministry said.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak