President Calls For Acceleration of Supadio Airport Development

TEMPO.CO, Sungai Raya, West Kalimantan - President Joko Widodo has called for the acceleration of the development of Supadio airport in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, to boost economic development in the region.

"West Kalimantan indeed has a big potential to develop its economy. By accelerating the development of the Supadio airport it is hoped economic development in West Kalimantan will also be expited," he said when inspecting the airport before leaving for Jakarta on Sunday after visiting the region.

During the inspection President Jokowi as he is also called received information that the current development of the airport would be continued with the second phase of development to make extend it up to 332.39 hectares in width.

"I will asked the president director of Angkasa Pura II and the ministry of state enterprises as well as the ministry of transportation to speed up the airport's development in view of a lot of potentials that could be developed in West Kalimantan," he said.

The president director of port operator PT Angkasa Pura II, Budi Karya Sumadi, said that in general Pontianak has three qualities that could be used to speed up the development of the airport including its strategic position for tourism due to its proximity to Malaysia, Singapore and other countries.

"In view of that its development must be done systematically and correctly so that it would be in line with the use of the airport," he said.

He said Pontianak and West Kalimantan also have good economic potential supported by good local culture, geographic condition and human resources. In view of that the airport has now been one of the airports that recorded fast passenger and cargo growth, he added.

He said the phenomena must be paid attention to for Angkasa Pura and airline companies to tap the potentials.

"The relations between Angkasa Pura and Supadio airport have been good and this also gives special advantage in view of airprot security," he said.

ANTARA