Govt seeks new investors for seaport project<\/p>\n
Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The government is to invite new investors to develop the
\nBojonegara seaport in Banten province after it scrapped a
\nprevious deal with Hong Kong-based Hutchison Port Holding and
\nBimantara Group due to a financial dispute.<\/p>\n
Deputy for Logistics and Tourism at the Office of State
\nMinister of State Enterprises Ferdinand Nainggolan told The
\nJakarta Post on Monday that the government would open a tender
\nprocess for new strategic investors in 2005.<\/p>\n
\"We will open the door to (new) investors in 2005 after
\nPelindo II (the state-owned seaport operator) has concluded the
\nbuying and cleaning of the land needed for the port,\" said
\nFerdinand, adding that the project was estimated to cost at least
\nUS$350 million.<\/p>\n
Thus far, Pelindo II had only managed to clear around 120
\nhectares out of the 1,200 hectares needed for the seaport, which
\nis projected to have an installed capacity of 3 million twenty-
\nfoot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers.<\/p>\n
Ferdinand explained that the government, through Pelindo II,
\nhad decided to back down from the Hutchison-Bimantara consortium
\nin February this year, because neither Hutchison nor Bimantara
\nhad injected any money for the project within the agreed time
\nframe.<\/p>\n
The consortium won the tender to develop the Bojenegara
\nseaport in 1997, but the government had to freeze the project
\nafter the country was hit by the 1998 economic crisis.<\/p>\n
The government revived the project in 2002.<\/p>\n
Pelindo II owned a 30 percent stake in the consortium company
\nPT Teluk Banten, while Hutchison owned the remaining 45 percent
\nand Bimantara 25 percent.<\/p>\n
The government is in dire need of a deepwater port capable of
\naccommodating mother vessels with capacities of at least 4,000
\nTEUs of containers.<\/p>\n
Bojonegara, along with Tanjung Priok in Jakarta and Kalilamong
\nin Surabaya, is expected to accommodate such vessels so that
\nIndonesian exporters could save time and money as the facilities
\nwould allow the ships to go directly from the ports to their
\noverseas destinations.<\/p>\n
Currently, about 75 percent of the country's shipment must
\npass through Singaporean or Malaysian ports to be loaded onto
\nlarger ships.<\/p>\n
The government has roughly calculated that Indonesian
\nexporters lose at least Rp 6.3 trillion annually in foreign
\nexchange revenue by making transshipment stops in Singapore and
\nMalaysia.<\/p>\n
The development of Bojonegara seaport, which has a water depth
\nof 16 meters, was also based on the fact that the existing port
\nin Tanjung Priok was considered too small and could no longer be
\nexpanded to accommodate future cargo load volumes.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/govt-seeks-new-investors-for-seaport-project-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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