Foreign Investors Eyeing Indonesian Airports
4 April 2014 10:40 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Bambang Tjahjono, airport director at the Transportation Ministry, said there are 38 investors interested in co-managing ten potential airports currently holding the status of the Transport Ministry's Technical Implementation Unit. The companies have participated in the market consultation held by the Ministry.
The management of the ten airports will handed over to private companies. The airports are Fatmawati Airport in Bengkulu, Radin Inten II in Lampung, Hananjoeddin Tanjung Pandan Airport, Riwut Tjilik Airport in Palangkaraya, Juwata Airport in Tarakan, Mutiara Airport in Palu, Sultan Baabullah in Ternate, Sentani Airport in Jayapura, Komodo Airport in Labuan Bajo, and Matahora Airport in Wakatobi.
Bambang ensured that the airports will still be owned by the state through the Transportation Ministry. However, their development and management will be delegated to investors interested in cooperating with the government. "The cooperation will take the form of a public-private partnership scheme."
Of the 38 companies that have shown interest, said Bambang, 25 are investment companies—including airline operators. There are also three foreign government agencies, five financial institutions and five consultants.
Twenty-five of the companies are foreign investors: 13 from Japan, three from Singapore, and two from Spain and Australia each. There are also companies from New Zealand, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, and Korea, numbering at one each.
"Another one is a multilateral institution," said Bambang.
So far, three investors have reached the due diligence stage for Raden Inten II, Komodo, and Mutiara airports. "The three airports attracted the most investors," Bambang said.
Previously, Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) official Tulus Abadi said that national airports must remain government-run so that tariffs could be lowered through cross-subsidies. Therefore, profits from bustling airport can be allocated to help develop the not-so-busy ones.
"If [the airports] are privately run, profits will be [the companies'] priority," he told Tempo yesterday.
NURUL MAHMUDAH