1800 families relocated for container terminal plan

JAKARTA (JP): Nearly 1,800 families from the 9,037 in the North Koja subdistrict, North Jakarta have been relocated to pave the way for the construction of the new container terminal.

S.J. Sagino, an official of the land clearance team for the mammoth cargo terminal project, told newsmen on Tuesday that his unit had already paid Rp 80 billion (US$36.84 million) to 1,886 families as compensation for their land.

He said the task force is negotiating the release of more land with the remaining 7,151 families.

The North Koja district, located adjacent to the Tanjung Priok container terminal, has been earmarked as a new cargo terminal extension.

However, over 9,037 families comprised of 37,400 people in a 90-hectare area will have to be moved before construction begins.

In general, residents seem to be willing to leave their land but they object to the compensation offered by PT Pelindo, a state-owned company.

North Jakarta Mayor H. Suprawito, who is also the head of the North Koja land appropriation committee, has offered Rp 160,000 (US$74) per square meter to the land owners on behalf the company.

The offer has been rejected by the residents, who demanded a Rp 2.27 million per square meter.

The dispute has continued since late last year and most of the people still refuse the offer.

The $498-million new terminal will be built by PT (Persero) Pelabuhan Indonesia II, a state-owned port company and PT Humpuss Terminal Petikemas III Tanjung Priok, a private company owned by Hutomo Mandala Putra, President Soeharto's youngest son.

Amir Harbani, the president of PT Pelabuhan II, and Ongki P. Sumarno of Humpuss signed the contract for the management and construction of the terminal on Tuesday. Both companies will finance the construction and manage the new terminal for 20 years. The terminal will start its operation in October 1998.

The signing ceremony was witnessed by Transportation Minister Haryanto Dhanutirto and Hutomo, who is popularly called Tommy.

Amir explained that the building of the new port on 90 hectares of land is aimed at anticipating a 20 percent to 25 percent annual increase in cargo container traffic.

The port company's spokesman was quoted by Antara news agency as saying on Tuesday that the first and second container terminals could only handle 1.27 million 20-feet equivalent units (TEUs) a year, while the conventional port could only serve 100,000 TEUs during the same period.

The minister advised the use of electronic data interchange in handling the terminal operations. (03)