City OKs state plan on new port

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.