Facilities at two Jakarta airports better
JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Transportation is upgrading technical facilities at two Jakarta airports to cater to Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum leaders, who will convene in the West Java city of Bogor in November.
Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto announced after attending a hearing with Commission V of the House of Representatives (DPR) yesterday that the radio navigation system and radar at Soekarno-Hatta airport in Cengkareng, west of here, and Halim Perdanakusuma airport in East Jakarta are being improved by Hughes Corporation of the United States.
APEC leaders traveling here on special aircraft, including American President Bill Clinton, are expected to land at Halim Perdanakusuma while the others, who will arrive on commercial flights, will land at Soekarno-Hatta.
"The US$17.5 million improvement projects will be completed in October," he said.
Haryanto said last week that several lights along Soekarno- Hatta's runways were broken and that Indonesia needs to import replacements from France.
The minister, however, declined recent reports that most airports in Indonesia lack adequate facilities and infrastructures.
Executives of state air carriers Garuda Indonesia and Merpati Nusantara last week told the commission, which is in charge of transportation, public works, tourism and telecommunications, that navigation systems at many airports in the country are outdated and lack high-powered, high frequency long distance communications devices.
Even Haryanto acknowledged yesterday that his small aircraft, on which he flew from Singapore to Jakarta on Monday, had to be controlled by telecommunications devices in Singapore while he was 200 miles off the island state heading towards Jakarta.
"The high-powered, high frequency long distance communications devices at Soekarno-Hatta, therefore, need improvement," he said.
Haryanto also said that his office has collected numerous proposals from private firms intending to develop airports, ports and railway and bus stations throughout the country at total costs of Rp 15.5 trillion ($711 billion).
The government has been inviting both local and foreign firms to build and expand transportation facilities in the country under a build, operate and transfer (BOT) scheme.
The minister said a private company has shown interest in providing roll-on-and-roll-off ferry service between Jakarta and Surabaya in East Java under a BOT contract to reduce the burden of road transportation between the two cities.
"The private firm will cooperate with three state-owned firms to provide the service under a contract to be signed here on Saturday," he said, adding that the company will provide two European-made ferries capable of carrying 200 trucks or trailers each for the planned service.
Merpati
Meanwhile Director General of Civil Aviation Zainuddin Sikado said that Merpati Nusantara will sign an agreement with the state's aircraft manufacturer IPTN to maintain CN-235s.
Merpati currently owns a fleet of 89 aircraft, including 14 IPTN-made CN-235s. The airline however can operate only nine of the CN-235s as the other five are grounded due to an assortment of problems, such as lack of spare parts.
Merpati Nusantara, which will be split next year from its holding company Garuda, has never turned a profit. From 1991 up to now, Merpati suffered a total loss of Rp 129.55 billion ($59.43 million), of which Rp 93.45 billion was caused by the grounding of the CN-235s.
Sikado said that Merpati will have new domestic routes when it becomes an independent firm in 1995, so that it can gain more income.
Merpati Nusantara plans to use about 100 IPTN airplanes comprising CN-235s and CN-250s. In procuring 15 CN-235s from 1988 to 1993, Merpati received $144.51 million in loans from the state-owned Bank Bumi Daya and Rp 645.21 million from the government.
The airline will improve international service early next month by serving Singapore from Solo in Central Java and Ujungpandang in South Sulawesi.(icn)