The Impact of Suramadu Bridge on Rural Poverty in Kabupaten Bangkalan, East Java, Indonesia

Poverty can be found in a developing country especially in the rural area, including Kabupaten Bangkalan, East Java, Indonesia. One of the reasons is the limited mobility and accessibility. To overcome this problem, the government has built the Suramadu bridge which connects Kabupaten Bangkalan in Madura island with Kota Surabaya in Java Island so that the mobility and accessibility in both areas can be better. This study aims at measuring how big the impact of Suramadu bridge development on rural poverty in Kabupaten Bangkalan, using village potential data in 2007 and 2017 by Badan Pusat Statistik (Central Agency of Statistic). The dependent variable is the amount of poor population and the independent variable consists of physical capital, human capital, natural capital and financial capital which analyzed by using OLS. Suramadu bridge has negative impact on poverty which means after the Suramadu bridge operates, the poverty level in rural area is decreased. Before the Suramadu bridge operates, it was only natural capital that gives impact on poverty while after the Suramadu bridge operates, all of the independent variables give an impact on poverty reduction. The existence of Suramadu bridge can ease the government on issuing the poverty reduction policy in rural area. Keywords: Poverty, Infrastructure, Village, Regiona