City OKs state plan on new port
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Jakarta administration has decided to drop its plan to build a Rp 8 trillion car terminal in East Ancol, North Jakarta, paving the way for state-owned port operator PT Pelindo II to construct the extension of the Tanjung Priok Port at the site in question.
Deputy Governor Fauzi Bowo said on Thursday that the Jakarta administration was preparing a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Pelindo II over the development of an international port, which will be integrated with supporting infrastructure, including roads, electric power and tap water networks.
"We are now in discussions with Pelindo II over many things related to the development of the new port, including the presence of a geothermal power plant and berths for the Navy's western fleet," Fauzi told The Jakarta Post.
City Spatial Agency head Nurfakih Wirawan confirmed that Fauzi had assigned his agency to carry out a study and to review the master plan proposed by Pelindo II to ensure that the new extension was integrated properly with the city's infrastructure.
"Yes. There is a team from the city agency chaired by the assistant to the city secretary for development affairs, Hari Sandjojo, who is assigned to carry out the study and review the master plan," Nurfakih told The Post.
"The administration will only proceed with the new MOU with Pelindo II after we are sure that the master plan is in line with the development plan in the city's north coast area," said another official with the City Planning Agency (Bapeda), Hendradman Dewantoro.
Hendradman said that the administration hoped that the city also would benefit -- from increased revenues - from the presence of a more competitive international hub port.
In the previous MOU signed in the 1990s, the city administration had given permission to Pelindo II to carry out a reclamation project in the area and let the company draw up the master plan of the project. But, the MOU had long expired and Pelindo failed to renew the agreement until the administration surprisingly decided to give the land to private investor PT Marindo Bahtera Development, which wanted to build the Jakarta New Port (JNP).
The move met strong opposition from Pelindo, which claimed that it had planned to build a 500-hectare port as an extension of the overcrowded Tanjung Priok port in the same location.
The project is now in the reclamation phase and the port is expected to begin operation by 2012.
It says on its website that the new terminal would add 2.7 million TEUs (20 feet equivalent units) to the Tanjung Priok's current capacity of 1.1 million TEUs. The increase was hoped to meet the projected demand of nearly 4 million TEUs by 2012.
The company also said that it had signed a loan agreement with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) on March 31, 2004 to develop the infrastructure at the new port.
The development of a new port for Jakarta has been part of the controversial project to make Jakarta a waterfront city.
The idea of making Jakarta a waterfront city includes the reclamation of around 2,700 hectares of land in Jakarta Bay. The reclamation project is meant to revive the city's north coast area for the construction of a port, luxury residences, hotels, condominiums, an industrial zone, business centers, large shopping malls, offices and recreation centers.
However, the project has been strongly opposed by environmentalists, including former state minister of the environment Nabiel Makarim, amid concern that the project would cause an adverse impact to the ecosystem on the north coast and in Jakarta Bay, in addition to increasing the likelihood of flooding.