Govt' Prepares Rp 5 T to Improve Seaports
11 November 2014 19:24 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The government has allocated Rp 5 trillion to fix and improve 300 seaports in Indonesia starting next year. "The budget has been included in the 2015 State Budget," said Bastian, Head of the Sea Transportation sub-directorate at the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) on Tuesday, November 11, 2014.
The main target of the improvement program will be the optimization of national maritime sector proposed by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo within the next five years. Bastian said that existing potentials have not been optimized due to lack of support from the government.
Next year, the government will prioritize improvement on 300 small, medium and large-scale seaports across Indonesia. The figure will increase so that economic growth of people living on coastal areas can be improved.
The improvement is expected to reduce logistic costs by 20 percent in the gross domestic product, increase the number of the Indonesian ships up to 30 percent, and revitalize ships that are 25 years old and above. The government plans to reduce the number of 25-year-old vessels from 70 percent to 50 percent.
Other target set by the government are reduction of dwelling time in main seaport and eradication of illegal fishing, illegal logging and illegal mining.
JAYADI SUPRIADIN
