RRI.CO.ID, Palembang - The fifth bridge in Palembang metropolitan area of South Sumatra, crossing a hundred-meters-wide Musi River, is nearing completion. Named Musi V Bridge, it is a key component of the 70-km Palembang–Betung Toll Road project.

The 1.7 km bridge is built by a state-owned construction company and toll operator Hutama Karya. The construction is targeted for completion in the fourth quarter of 2026.

Vice President Gibran Rakabuming visited the site to review the construction progress of the Musi V Bridge on Thursday, 16 July 2026. This was his second visit to the project, in what the country's Vice Presidential Secretariat said demonstrates "ongoing oversight and the commitment of President Prabowo Subianto's administration to accelerate strategic infrastructure development".

"He appreciated what we have done, the acceleration, especially on the Musi V Bridge," Executive Vice President of the Toll Road Development Division of Hutama Karya, Dwi Aryono Bayuaji, said.

The Palembang–Betung Toll Road, in which the Musi V Bridge is located, is part of the larger, 1,000-km Trans-Sumatra Toll Road. It is targeted for completion in the first quarter of 2027.

"The benefit of this toll road is that it cuts travel time. The journey, which normally takes about three hours, can now be completed in just one hour (via Palembang–Betung Toll Road)..., meaning an efficiency gain of almost 60 percent, from three hours to one hour," he said.

Dwi stated that Gibran is pushing for the accelerated completion of the Trans-Sumatra Toll Road in South Sumatra so that people can benefit from it immediately. In addition to increasing travel efficiency, he said the highway will also expand public access, speed up agricultural output distribution, and reduce logistics costs.

"Of course, this also facilitates the distribution of goods, as one of Asta Cita (Prabowo's eight government missions) objectives is to facilitate the flow of goods. The reason? Food security, which can also be addressed (through improved logistics)," he explained.