14th September 2022 – The groundbreaking of the Gilimanuk-Mengwi highway was held a few days ago, and this highway is expected to become a key to the development of tourism and business on the island. It will be named Jagat Kerthi and is expected to be ready in 2025.
Besides developing the potential of the region, especially in the tourism and industrial sectors, the highway which marks the “New Era of Bali” will also open more access. It can lead to the development in Tabanan, particularly a tourism variety called “tourist villages”.
The 96.82 km long highway from Gilimanuk to Mengwi will also be able to significantly reduce travel time to and fro West Bali, both for the movement of people and goods. A decrease in travel time means a decrease in transportation costs will also occur, which can affect the acceleration of economic growth in the west of Bali. Thus, the entire island can feel the effect of the development in both tourism and business.
The highway will also pass through three regencies, 13 sub-districts and 58 villages. In addition, the highway was also built by empowering four villages in Bali as an integrated rest area, each of which has a different concept, namely Jembrana by promoting local wisdom. Pekutatan which supports the international playground area. Then, Soka with a rural concept as a place to rest and Tabanan as a logistics centre for distribution within the city.
Furthermore, as the government of Bali has already applied in the Bali Mandara toll road, the Jagat Kerthi toll road will also allow motorcycle riders to pass the way.
The current road that connects Gilimanuk and Denpasar is known as the “Tengkorak” strait. According to an academician, the highway can also decrease the number of road accidents at the “Tengkorak” strait. The road, which is actually called as Denpasar-Gilimanuk Bypass Ir Soekarno, is notorious to be prone to accidents for so many years.
