East Papua regency seeks more planes

JAYAPURA, Papua: The administration of Puncak Jaya is considering hiring planes from a Canadian and a New Zealand airline, to help it break the isolation of the East Papua regency.

Puncak Jaya regent Elieser Renmaur said over the weekend that he hoped to add the flight frequency to and from the regency now served by a number of small sized Twin Otter planes.

He did not say which Canadian or New Zealand airline the regency approached or what planes they planned to hire, but said they were looking for planes bigger than the Twin Otter.

So far Puncak Jaya has no airport on which larger planes like a Hercules or Fokker 27 could land, even though it relies on air transportation. The dependence on small planes is driving up the cost of various products sold in Puncak Jaya capital Mulia.

Now the regency also plans to build a road connecting it with Jayawijaya. The planned road, Elieser said, would link Mulia with the Jayawijaya capital of Wamena. -- Antara