Barelang Bridge


The Barelang Bridge is a chain of 6 bridges of various types that connect the islands of Batam, Rempang, and Galang, Riau Islands built in 1997. Barelang also refers to the islands themselves, which are all administratively part of the municipality of Batam.
The smaller islands of Tonton, Nipah, and Setotok connect Batam and Rempang. The entire Barelang region covers 715 km².
Some locals call the bridge Jembatan Habibie after Dr. Jusuf Habibie, who oversaw the project in construction, aiming to transform the Rempang and Galang islands into industrial sites. The concept design for the 6 bridges were proposed by Bruce Ramsay of VSL.
Dr. Habibie had requested that the designs should be based on a variation of different structural bridge types, in order to introduce & develop new bridge design & building technologies for the Indonesian market.
Over time the bridge sites have grown more into a tourist attraction rather than a transportation route.
The full stretch of all 6 bridges total to 2 kilometers. Travelling from the first bridge to the last is about 50 km and takes about 50 minutes. Construction of the bridges started in 1992 and took names from fifteenth to eighteenth-century rulers of the Riau Sultanate.

Bridges