Ampera Bridge ( id, Jembatan Ampera, for andate of People's Suffering a now-rarely used

colloquial Colloquialism (), also called colloquial language, everyday language or general parlance, is the linguistic style used for casual (informal) communication. It is the most common functional style of speech, the idiom normally employed in conve ...

name for the preamble of the

Constitution of Indonesia The 1945 State Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia ( id, Undang-Undang Dasar Negara Republik Indonesia Tahun 1945, commonly abbreviated as ''UUD 1945'' or ''UUD '45'') is the supreme law and basis for all laws of Indonesia. The constitu ...

), formerly Bung Karno Bridge ( id, Jembatan Bung Karno, after President

Sukarno Sukarno). (; born Koesno Sosrodihardjo, ; 6 June 1901 – 21 June 1970) was an Indonesian statesman, orator, revolutionary, and nationalist who was the first president of Indonesia, serving from 1945 to 1967. Sukarno was the leader of ...

) between its opening and the 1966 De-Sukarnoization campaign, is a

vertical-lift bridge A vertical-lift bridge or just lift bridge is a type of movable bridge in which a span rises vertically while remaining parallel with the deck. The vertical lift offers several benefits over other movable bridges such as the bascule and sw ...

in the city of

Palembang Palembang () is the capital city of the Indonesian province of South Sumatra. The city proper covers on both banks of the Musi River on the eastern lowland of southern Sumatra. It had a population of 1,668,848 at the 2020 Census. Palembang ...

South Sumatra South Sumatra ( id, Sumatra Selatan) is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the southeast of the island of Sumatra, The province spans and had a population of 8,467,432 at the 2020 Census. The capital of the province is Palembang. The prov ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. It connects Seberang Ulu and Seberang Ilir, two regions of Palembang. It can no longer be opened to allow ships to pass. The bridge was planned during the era of Indonesia's first president,

, who wanted a bridge that could open and be a match for London's

Tower Bridge Tower Bridge is a Grade I listed combined bascule and suspension bridge in London, built between 1886 and 1894, designed by Horace Jones and engineered by John Wolfe Barry with the help of Henry Marc Brunel. It crosses the River Thames clos ...

. The funds for the construction came from Japanese war reparations, with

Fuji Heavy Industries is a Japanese multinational corporation and conglomerate primarily involved in both terrestrial and aerospace transportation manufacturing. It is best known for its line of Subaru automobiles. Founded in 1953, the company was formerly named ( ...

being given responsibility for design and construction. However, at the time, Japan had no bridges of this type, and Fuji Heavy Industries had no bridge-building experience. The official opening was carried out by Governor of South Sumatra, Abujazid Bustomi, on 10 November 1965. At first, the bridge was known as the Bung Karno Bridge, after the president, but following his

fall Autumn, also known as fall in American English and Canadian English, is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September (Northern Hemisphere) or March ( Southe ...

, it was renamed the Ampera Bridge. For a few years after it was opened, the centre span could be lifted at a speed of approximately 10 metres per minute to allow ships of up to 44.5m in height to pass underneath. However, this only occurred a few times, and after 1970 it could no longer be opened. The official reason for this was that the 30 minutes needed to raise the bridge was causing unacceptable delays, and that in any case silting of the river had made it impassable for large ships. However, according to architect Wiratman, who acted as a consultant before the construction, the design of the bridge was flawed from the outset because of the soft mud on which it was built. He maintains that his concerns were ignored for political reasons, and that as the towers' foundations shifted, the bridge deformed to the extent that it could no longer be opened. The ballast weights needed to balance the weight of the bridge were removed in 1990 to prevent possible accidents were they to fall. The bridge's colour has been changed three times. At first it was grey, but it was changed to be yellow in 1992. And in 2002, when Indonesia was led by Megawati Sukarnoputri as president, the colour was changed again to red.

References

{{Tourist attractions in Indonesia Bridges in Indonesia Buildings and structures in Palembang Bridges completed in 1965 Post-independence architecture of Indonesia Vertical lift bridges

See also

References