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)