Industries profit from infrastructure
JAKARTA (JP): More infrastructure to support the growing industries in Banten is currently being built. It is the publicly listed industrial estate and housing developer PT Kawasan Industri Jababeka Tbk., which is constructing an integrated jetty within its industrial estate in Cilegon.
General manager of Jababeka's project in Cilegon, Thoufik Winardi, said that when completed, Jababeka's industrial estate in Cilegon will also have a tank terminal.
He reiterated that the industrial zone will be the first chemical industrial estate in Indonesia.
The Jababeka-Cilegon Industrial estate, expected to be completed by 2007 or 2008, will provide modern infrastructure, including roads, drainage systems, a waste treatment plant, a clean water treatment plant, a jetty and tank farm facilities, power generators, cargo terminals for trains, a telephone network, gas pipelines, greenery and street lights for public convenience.
Jababeka is 30.65 percent owned by the public. The remaining shareholders include PT Mekar Sertajaya, PT Dwi Investindo, PT Penta Cosmopolitan and PT Brasali Corporation.
"In a longer term plan, the jetty will be able to serve vessels of up to 80,000 dead weight tons. That will mean the industries won't have to have the raw materials transit in Singapore, to be taken to their private jetties, but directly dispatched from the exporting countries," Winardi said.
He said that geographically, the seaport in Banten was better than Tanjung Priok in Jakarta or Cilacap in West Java.
"The Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta has always been congested. Meanwhile, the Singapore-Cilacap distance is farther than Singapore-Banten. In addition, the market of the end products of most petrochemical-related industries in Banten are in West Java," he said.
The Tanjung Priok port has been notoriously congested. It has two container terminals which are unable to berth container ships with a draft over 12 meters or a capacity over 2,500 20-feet equivalent units (TEUs). The port has been criticized frequently for its inefficiency and heavy red tape which cause congestion.
Soedjarwo, public relations manager of state-owned PT Pelindo II, said that in recent times, during the multidimension crisis, Tanjung Priok had its lowest season.
By August this year, it handled 1.36 million TUEs, he said.
Tanjung Priok has a three-million TEUs capacity, in addition to the completion of the first phase of a third container port.
New container port projects, including a third terminal at Tanjung Priok and Bojonegara in Banten, have had problems due to corruption. Both projects, involving sons of former president Soeharto, had been terminated, Soedjarwo said.
In the meantime, as part of a state-enterprise privatization plan, the government has invited a Hong Kong-based investor to develop a new container port with a planned total capacity of 3.1 million TEUs. In April, Grosbeak, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hutchison Port Holdings, and a unit of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd., acquired 51 percent of Jakarta International Container Terminal (JICT) for over US$200 million. JICT belongs Pelindo II.
Winardi said that Jababeka had invited the Indonesia-Hong Kong partnership to join forces to develop the jetty within the industrial estate in Cilegon.
"Rather than looking for another site, we can collaborate to develop the port within the industrial estate in Cilegon," he said, adding that the facility will facilitate industries growing in Banten. (icn)