[6] In July 2019, Xanana Gusmão, the former President and Prime Minister of East Timor, travelled to Jakarta, to invite B. J. Habibie to attend the inauguration of the bridge.

[7] After returning from Jakarta, Gusmão decided that both the bridge and the park should be named in honour of Habibie.

[6] On 29 August 2019, the day before the 20th anniversary, another former President of East Timor, José Ramos-Horta, officially inaugurated the bridge.

[12] During the inauguration ceremony, Basuki read a message from President Widodo saying that Indonesia and East Timor could continue to boost economic cooperation in border areas, such as Mota'ain, Motamasin [de], and Wini, especially in the face of increasingly tough global competition.

[3] Additionally, Ramos-Horta drove a car across the bridge, with Basuki, the East Timorese Foreign Minister, Dionísio Babo Soares, and the President of the Assembly of the Republic of Portugal, Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues, as his passengers.

One Australian journalist wrote: "Habibie's bridge is brochure-perfect brilliant, still with its sails up from the [inauguration] ceremony, and no one seems to find it odd that a shiny new symbol of growing Timor-Leste is named for the anti-independence confidante of the dictator responsible for the invasion.

[18][19][20][21] In March 2020, heavy rain and flooding in Dili caused part of a retaining wall in the B. J. Habibie Park adjacent to the bridge to collapse.

[1][3] At the western end of the roadway section, there is a sign with the words "Ponte Presidente B.J.Habibie" in red to welcome users of the bridge.