Government Accelerates Takeover of Kertajati Airport from West Java Province
The development of Kertajati International Airport in Majalangkar, West Java, is being pushed forward to become a Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) centre. Minister of State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi revealed that the government is currently resolving administrative matters, including the transfer of asset management from the West Java Provincial Government to the central government.
Previously, as part of defence cooperation between Indonesia and the United States, there was a plan to establish an MRO facility for C-130J aircraft at Kertajati.
“It is in process. We want it as soon as possible, but everything requires a process, because there is also an asset transfer that originally belonged to the West Java Provincial Government, and its management will be transferred to the Central Government,” Prasetyo said at the Presidential Palace Complex on Wednesday.
He hopes the entire process can be completed as quickly as possible so that the development of Kertajati can begin to be realised this year. According to Prasetyo, the government wants to ensure that Kertajati Airport, which was built with a large investment, can be utilised optimally through various strategic functions.
Besides being projected as an aircraft MRO centre, Kertajati has also been prepared as a Hajj embarkation point.
“First, we want Kertajati, which has already been built, to be optimal. So we are exercising various ideas and scenarios to optimise Kertajati. One of them is becoming a Hajj embarkation point, and then for aircraft MRO,” he said.
Prasetyo believes that optimising Kertajati Airport will have a broad economic impact on the surrounding community. According to him, the activation of activities at the airport will create a multiplier effect that drives the growth of the economic ecosystem in the region.
“How we optimise the assets we have built can provide more optimal benefits, including our belief that if Kertajati can be activated later, the community’s economic ecosystem and its multiplier effect will automatically grow,” he said.
Furthermore, Prasetyo emphasised that the future function of Kertajati Airport will not only support the needs of the Ministry of Defence. According to him, the airport has a strategic location and a large area, allowing it to carry out multiple functions simultaneously, both civil and in other sectors.
“Because it is indeed planned that its function is not only for defence. It is a type of airport that is quite large, strategically located, and can carry out various functions,” said Prasetyo.