Trans-Papua Highway

Connections of the road opened access to many isolated areas in Papua region, which has not been possible previously.[8] According to Mongabay, while the road brings benefit to native Papuans in terms of availability of goods and access to healthcare facilities, the road also has potentially harmful consequences such as opening way for illegal logging, intensifying contacts between several tribes that could lead to tribal conflicts, and leaving previously isolated towns and villages economically dominated by those from bigger cities.[6][9][8] Analyst of public policies, Agus Pambagio argued that the construction should be advised by anthropologist to take cultural factors into account.[10] The road is also feared to damage Lorentz National Park, which is a protected natural area.[11] Papuan governor Lukas Enembe criticized the road construction, saying that the road "mostly has not been used" by native Papuans.[12] Armed wing of Free Papua Movement rejected the road construction, saying that it is "used for military purposes".[13][14]

During the construction of the highway at least 20 construction workers in Nduga were killed by soldiers of the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB),[15] who claimed the highway was meant for military enforcement rather than economic benefit, and was built by military members disguised as civilian workers.[14] As of December 2018, the project is suspended temporarily due to security concerns.[16] In late January 2019, about two months after the attack, project managers said construction would resume using combat engineers from the Indonesian military.[17] About a month later in March, the TPNPB soldiers returned and killed three Indonesian soldiers.[18]