Heritage Sites : Ampera Bridge

Ampera Bridge

Ampera Bridge was constructed in April 1962, after getting approval of President Soekarno. At first, this 1,177 meters long and 22 meters wide bridge was called Bung Karno Bridge. It was officially opened on 30 September 1965 by Let. Gen. Ahmad Yani. However, following a political turmoil in 1966 i.e., when anti-Soekarno movement was stronger, the bridge was renamed to Ampera Bridge. Palembang citizens, however, prefer to call it "Musi Project".

Parts of this 944 tons bridge can lift up and down about 10 meters per minute. It has two lifting towers of 63 meters tall. Distance between these two towers is 75 meters. They have two pendulums, weighing about 500 tons each.

When the middle shares of the bridge is lifted, wide ship of 60 meters wide and a maximum of 44.50 meters tall can pass to ford of Musi River. And when the middle shares of this bridge is not lifted, maximum height of ships that can pass under the bridge is only nine meters above the water level. Unfortunately, at present, the bridge cannot be lifted for safety reasons.

It is easy to find hotels in Palembang. You can find star or ordinary hotels along Kapten A Rivai, Sudirman, R Sukamto, Veteran, and POM IX streets.

You won’t find any difficulty to find local foods here. Not far from Palembang Grand Mosque, you can enjoy Palembang traditional foods like empek-empek panggang and kerupuk (crackers) for Rp1.500 to Rp22.200 per piece, depending where you eat. In addition, there is a food stall selling es belimbing (star fruit ice). It is the only food stall that sells es belimbing. Its name is Ujuk.

On Musi River, there are floating restaurants where you could dine while seeing Ampera Bridge.

To buy souvenirs, you only need to walk some 50 meters from Ampera Bridge where you can find a market selling various types of local foods and souvenirs such as fruits and Songket (woven fabrics). This market is called Pasar 16 Ilir. About three kilometers from there, you could find a Songket center and 50 meters from there, you could find a lekeur (carving) center.

It is best to visit Ampera Bridge on foot so that you could feel the windblows from Musi River.

Ampera Bridge is located in Palembang. You can go to this city from Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II airport at Tanjung Api-Api Street. It is an international airport that it is accessible from Malaysia, Singapore, China, and Thailand. To go to Musi River, you can take a taxi or rented car from the airport. Distance between the airport and city center is about 6 km.

In the city center, there are nine public transportations and seven city buses from various destinations that can take you to Ampera. You only need to pay Rp1,500 to Rp5,000.

If you like to see Ampera Bridge closely, please don’t use a motor vehicle because if you stop in the middle of the bridge, the police officer will give you a ticket.

Posted in: Heritage Sites