N. Sulawesi displays ambitious port plans

N. Sulawesi displays ambitious port plans

MANADO, North Sulawesi (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid is
slated to officially open the renovated International Airport of
Sam Ratulangi and Bitung International seaport in the city of
Manado and Bitung on July 16.

Deputy governor Freddy Sualang and the head of the provincial
communications office, Yopy Yehosua, confirmed on Tuesday the
planned President's arrival.

Yopy, chairman of the organizing committee for the
inauguration of the ports, said that the two projects had
economic significance for both the province and the nation.

"We hope that the new Sam Ratulangi Airport will be able to
accommodate the flow of tourists coming to the province, while
the seaport is now the biggest in the eastern part of the
country," Yopy boasted.

He said that Sam Ratulangi Airport could, up until now, only
be used by small planes. "Now wide-bodied planes like Boeing 747s
would be able to land. The runway is now 2,650 meters while it
was only 1,800 meters and the passenger terminal, which was just
2,400 square meters in width, now covers 3,900 sq.m. The airport
is also equipped with a new Air Tower Traffic Control (ATC) and
Instrument Landing System, which makes it possible for the
airport to operate 24 hours a day non-stop."

Currently Bouraq Airlines operates a direct flight from Manado
to Davao (the Philippines) twice a week, Silk Air serves a
Manado-Singapore flight four times a week. "And starting August 1
Trans Asia Airways will open a Taipei-Manado direct flight, 16
times in four days."

Speaking about the seaport, Yopy said that three stages of
major works were underway. The first stage, which will end in
2005, involves transforming the port from a collector port to a
feeder port, which could serve cargo ships of between 200 and 500
ton-equivalent units (TEUS) in capacity.

During the second stage, which would start in 2006 and end in
2015, the port would become a major port that could handle larger
cargo ships of between 500 and 750 TEUS, Yopy said. And finally,
at the third stage, Bitung port would become a modern port that
would be able to handle cargo ships of between 750 and 1,500
TEUS." (48/sur)