IKN to collaborate with South Korea to build immersed tunnel

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Public Works and Public Housing Ministry stated that the underwater toll road or immersed tunnel in Nusantara Capital City (IKN) will be constructed in collaboration with South Korea.

The ministry's Director of Road Construction, Wida Nurfaida, remarked that the immersed tunnel is part of the IKN Access Toll Road Segments 4A and 4B.

"We also plan to build the immersed tunnel by collaborating with the South Korean government," she remarked here on Wednesday.

Construction of the immersed tunnel will follow IKN Nusantara's forest city concept.

According to Nurfaida, the ministry could have built a bridge, but eventually, it decided to build an immersed tunnel to protect the environment.

Toll road users can cross Balikpapan Bay to the IKN Nusantara Government Core Area through the immersed tunnel.

Through the immersed tunnel, the government is intent on protecting the endemic proboscis monkeys and other endemic animals and plants in Balikpapan Bay.

Hence, to this end, the ministry will not build a bridge that will physically change the environment's morphology and will build an immersed tunnel like in Geoje, Busan, South Korea.

The immersed tunnel has been implemented in several countries, such as the Fehmarnbelt tunnel in Europe and in Geoje, Busan.

Based on Law No.3 of 2022 concerning the IKN Nusantara Master Plan, the basic principles of development in IKN must prioritize nature, technology, and environmental sustainability.

Hence, IKN development planning is integrated with the sustainable concept to balance natural ecology, the built or physical environment, and the social system harmoniously.

In addition, the IKN development must prevent possible negative impacts of urbanization and extreme weather that can increase the risks of floods and raw water shortages.