Govt, developer firm on new port

Govt, developer firm on new port

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

The Jakarta administration has vowed to go ahead with the
construction of the new Jakarta port in spite of a legal dispute
with state port operator Pelindo II about the project's legal
status.

"We cannot wait ... We must quickly act to make our port more
competitive in the region. Otherwise, we will be left behind.
Besides, Jakarta has a strong legal basis to go ahead with the
project," assistant to the city secretary for development affairs
IGKG Suena said on Thursday.

Suena cited Law No. 34/1999 on the Jakarta administration,
which he said gave the administration the authority to manage its
own port.

Aan Slamet, the president director of port developer PT
Marindo Bahtera, said his company was preparing an environmental
impact analysis for the project.

"We hope to complete the analysis by January next year. So
far, everything is on schedule," he told The Jakarta Post.

Marindo will wholly finance the project worth US$500 million,
while the city will hold 5 percent of the shares.

The Jakarta administration and Pelindo II have been in a tug-
of-war about the multipurpose commercial port since Pelindo II
announced its plans to construct a similar integrated port in the
same area.

Pelindo II said the authority to allow new ports in the city
was in the hands of the State Minister of State Enterprises, who
was authorized to create state-owned enterprises -- in this case
Pelindo II -- based on Government Regulation No. 69/2001 on
national ports.

The regulation, however, is currently the subject of a
judicial review in the Constitutional Court.

In a discussion on Wednesday organized by the Institute for
Social and Economic Research, Education and Information (LP3ES),
Pelindo II's director of marketing and business development,
Supadi, accused the Jakarta administration of inconsistency.

Supadi said the administration had given permission to Pelindo
II to carry out a reclamation project in the area and let the
company draft the master plan of the project.

Pelindo II, Supadi added, had also signed a loan agreement
with the Japan International Cooperation Agency on March 31,
2004, to develop infrastructure at the Tanjung Priok port, the
same area where the new port would be located.

Suena confirmed Supadi's statement the administration had
allowed Pelindo II to reclaim the area for the port in a
Memorandum of Understanding in the 1990s. "But the MOU has long
expired. And Pelindo has never arranged to renew the agreement."

Meanwhile, Governor Sutiyoso offered on Wednesday an option
for Pelindo II to become the port operator as a way out of the
prolonged dispute. The state port operator had not responded to
the offer on Thursday.

The new port, which will be equipped with a car terminal,
multipurpose area, offices and a business center, is expected to
be completed within six years. The project would apply Japanese
technology to dredge the sea bed and reclaim 242 hectares of
coastal area.

Environmentalists have opposed the plan because they said the
reclamation project would further damage the ecosystem on
Jakarta's northern coast.