Airport under construction to provide access to Lake Toba

Airport under construction to provide access to Lake Toba

Benget Simbolon Tnb., The Jakarta Post, Silangit, North Tapanuli

People who have visited Lake Toba several times will find it
hard to believe that an international airport accessible by a
Boeing airplane direct from Singapore or Jakarta is now under
construction in Silangit, about five kilometers to the north of
Siborong-borong, a North Tapanuli subdistrict in North Sumatra.

"I don't believe it. Is it really true? Perhaps it's only a
plan. If so, it'll take a long time to realize," said Togar
Simatupang, a Jakartan who originates from Muara, a subdistrict
near Silangit, upon hearing that an airport was being developed.

"If it is true it will be a giant step in assisting the least
developed area in the province," he told The Jakarta Post last
weekend.

Several individuals from a group from Jakarta invited to visit
the airport could not really believe that it was under
construction.

"Is it true that it has been under construction in Silangit?"
was a question from a journalist to Potsdam Hutasoit, a member of
House of Representatives Commission IV (dealing with
transportation and infrastructure), who led a group of people to
see the ongoing construction of the airport.

The airport is now being developed by the North Tapanuli
administration in Silangit, a village that is passed on the way
from Siborong-borong to Muara adjacent to the southern shore of
Lake Toba, the biggest lake in Asia.

"We originally initiated this development in 1988. But we
faced financial problems. At that time, we understood that
transportation was the key to developing the area," he told The
Jakarta Post when visiting the airport construction Tuesday last
week.

So far, some 900 meters of the airport runway have been
constructed. "The runway will have a length of 2,350 meters and a
width of 30 meters. Hopefully, when completed next year, it will
be able to accommodate a Boeing aircraft," said Saud M. Tambunan,
president director of Roy Grup, the developer of Silangit
airport.

North Tapanuli Regent R.E. Nainggolan told the Post last
Tuesday that he had allocated about Rp 2.7 billion (US$321,428)
from the regency's 2004 budget to support the development.

He added the central government had also allocated about Rp 9
billion from the 2004 national budget, which had been approved by
the House, to finance the first stage of airport development.

"As it is a national project, the central government will also
finance the subsequent stages of its development," said
Nainggolan, the outgoing regent, who will be replaced by Torang
Lumban Tobing, elected in a general session of the regency's
house of representatives last week.

Potsdam Hutasoit, who is also a deputy chairman of Ad Hoc
Commission II of the People's Consultative Assembly's Working
Committee, said that the airport construction was a breakthrough
in spurring development in the areas surrounding Lake Toba and
the western parts of North Sumatra province, which had long been
known as pockets of poverty and a rural backwater.

"All these areas have great potential, but due to
accessibility problems it could not be realized easily. Look at
that lake -- don't you think it's beautiful? The land around it
is good for agriculture. There are also mining projects in
several places," Potsdam said, pointing at Lake Toba, while
sitting in a hut in Huta Ginjang, a village on the mountainous
area surrounding the southern part of the lake.

"This is a national asset that should be developed so that it
can contribute well to the national economy," he pointed out.

At present, he said, people needed at least three days to
visit Lake Toba as they had to go to Medan first before traveling
about eight hours by bus to Parapat, a small city on the eastern
coastal area of the lake.

He said that when the airport was in operation -- hopefully
next year -- visitors could access the lake in about an hour from
Singapore and about one-and-a-half hours from Jakarta. All other
areas around the lake could be accessed from Silangit within
about half an hour at the most.

The locals will also be able to market their produce directly
to Singapore or Jakarta in fresh condition without fearing that
it will go rotten on the way, he said.

"With that breakthrough, we hope development here will be
accelerated. Tourism will flourish, agriculture will do well. All
sectors of development will rapidly grow to benefit the locals,
who are mostly poor," he said, while drinking a cup of coffee in
a simple hut surrounded by simple houses near Silangit.