Source: Untar Public Relations – JT
The Doctoral Program in Civil Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering, Tarumanagara University (FT Untar), has once again produced an innovative academic work contributing to national infrastructure development. On Wednesday, May 14, 2025, doctoral candidate Desi Meriana officially presented her dissertation titled “Modeling the Determination of Technical Index for the Special Allocation Fund (DAK) in the Road Sector Across Indonesia” during an open examination held at Untar Campus I.
The doctoral promotion session was directly chaired by Untar Rector Prof. Dr. Amad Sudiro, S.H., M.H., M.Kn., M.M., and attended by an examination committee consisting of Ir. Harto Tanujaya, S.T., M.T., Ph.D., Prof. Dr. Ir. Bambang Sugeng Subagio, DEA., and Dr. Ir. Najid, M.T.
In her presentation, Desi Meriana emphasized the importance of strengthening the technical database as a foundation for determining the technical index of the DAK road fund. She reviewed seven main criteria currently used, including poor road conditions, bridge conditions, road performance, regional budget allocation size (APBD), e-monitoring reporting, and compliance with the one map policy.
Desi Meriana presenting her dissertation material // Photo credit: Untar Public Relations – JT
However, Desi revealed that the current assessment system still has its shortcomings. “The lack of a systematic approach in weighting the criteria and evaluating road connectivity results in budget allocations that are not yet fully targeted,” she stated.
Through her dissertation, Desi developed a more systematic and measurable evaluation model for the technical index of the DAK road fund. This model comprises three main approaches: regression analysis on regional data to identify the most influential variables, the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method to objectively assign weights between criteria, and the application of graph theory to measure regional road connectivity based on road quality functions.
The results of this research not only strengthen the academic foundation but also have the potential to provide strategic input for the government in distributing road infrastructure budgets more effectively and sustainably. With this achievement, Desi Meriana officially became the 89th Doctor of Civil Engineering at Untar. (VC/AJ/YS)