Having a great holiday in Bali is everyone’s dream. Wishing to land on this exotic island with comfort and with many plans lining up are part of the expectations. Then from airport to find a nice place to stay is also a part of the holiday plan. However, these all would be troubled by one of problems, which is faced by Bali tourism now, traffic jam.
This traffic takes place during busy hours; which are at 12 am to 2 pm during lunchtime and at 5 pm to 7 pm for the office hours where many people rush to get home. This jam is normally around Dewa Ruci statue, a meeting point of all traffic from Sanur, Kuta, Nusa Dua and Ngurah Rai airport. The statue is located between the sunset road toward Ngurah Rai Airport, sanur high way and the way to Kuta. It is the main access from and to those places mentioned above.
It takes hours to get through the traffic on the area, especially when you have to get to the airport very soon. This happens due to the economic growth, which increases the people demand of transportation. Vehicles have been the prime need for the people living in Bali since they get easy access to wherever they go especially for work. Many vehicles meaning wider road is needed to avoid jam. The infrastructures were not ready yet to face this vehicles’ explosion that result in the bad traffic jam for the main destination in Badung area.
The government sees this as a huge problem, which can be the obstacles of tourism and international events in the future. This year 2 million tourists visit Bali for many reasons; holiday, international events or business matters. The number is close to the expected target, which is 2.3 million. The Bali Underpass Project is seen as the only way out at the moment to fix the traffic jam during busy hours at this area. They have studied the project since 2007 and the 180 billions rupiah underpass project is now under construction which will be continued for Benoa – Serangan High way. Benoa and Serangan are both located in the South of Bali. The mega project will be accomplished in May 2013 and will be the first underpass in Bali.
This underpass is expected to benefit all sectors when it is ready. The economic growth is hoped to increase due to easy access and less traffic. The comfort of tourists coming to Bali will be much greater than before as well as the international events, which often take place in Nusa Dua Bali. The access from and to Bali international airport will be easier. Moreover, tourists will be more comfortable to travel to tourism main attractions such as Kuta area, which is still the favorite. Holiday plans would not be ruined anymore for the sake of bad traffic.
On the other side, when this project is operated by middle of next year, more people will be employed. This is also the side result of the underpass. But the main reason is to increase the access to Badung’s main attraction such as Kuta, Nusa Dua, Sanur and to the airport. Similarly to the tourism point of view, the number of visits would be increasing next year. The supporting infra structure would become the best influence to attract more people coming to visit and to ensure them that it will not wasting time to travel around the areas. The international events, which will be conducted in the future, would find easier access for the meeting points.
Would it be really benefit the tourists coming to visit Bali and the locals for the economic growth in Southern of Bali? Only time will explain after the multi billion project accomplished. Whatever the result is, we do always hope this would bring more benefits than harms.
