New airport project in Medan continues
New airport project in Medan continues
JAKARTA (JP): The project to construct a new airport in Medan,
North Sumatra is continuing, and the clearance of about 1,350
hectares of land for the construction has been completed.
Spokesman for the Ministry of Transportation, Bambang S.
Ervan, said here yesterday that the master plan for the new
airport, located in Kuala Namu, Deli Serdang, some 20 km from
Medan, was scheduled to be completed by the end of this month.
"The physical construction of the airport will be carried out
gradually starting in early 1998," Ervan told The Jakarta Post
here yesterday.
He said that state-owned airport management company PT Angkasa
Pura would finance the 1,365 hectare land appropriation.
The company had spent some Rp 140.9 billion (approximately
US$36 million) to clear 1,350 hectares on the plot, he added.
"The most recent land appropriation consisted of 655.83
hectares previously owned by the state-owned PT Perkebunan
Nusantara II," he said.
Ervan said that Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono recently
announced that President Soeharto had called on the continuation
of the Kuala Namu Airport project following Garuda's Airbus A300-
B4 plane crash that killed 234 people in North Sumatra on Sep.
26.
The Kuala Namu project, which has been planned to replace the
aging Polonia airport, was earlier postponed by the government
based on a Presidential Decree dated Sept. 20.
The Kuala Namu project, initially announced in 1994 as a joint
operation with private and overseas firms, is estimated to
incorporate approximately 2,200 hectares of land.
Angkasa Pura, with its financial facilitators, will finance
part of the project related to aviation affairs. The land-related
project has been offered to private firms in collaboration with
Angkasa Pura under a building, operating and transfer (BOT)
contract.
Two years ago the government picked PT Citra Lamtorogung
Persada, a company owned by President Soeharto's eldest daughter
Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, to construct the Kuala Namu Airport
within three years. The government said at that time that the
company would cooperate with Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands
for the project. The new airport in Medan, planned with two
runways of around 4,000 meters each, was then estimated to cost
at least $600 million.
Ervan said yesterday that the government is still looking for
other companies to join Citra Lamtorogung in developing the
airport project.
Reassessment
He continued that a team was currently reassessing some air
transportation projects throughout the country, which are now
being reviewed as part of the government's retrenchment program.
The projects included the procurement and installation of
airport security equipment for 50 airports; airfield lighting
systems and power supplies; and VHF extended range for
communication systems and ATC radar facilities.
"We expect to have the result (of the reassessment) later this
year," Ervan said.
An aviation expert and executive has recently urged the
government to improve the country's airports.
"Many airports in Indonesia have poor infrastructure and lack
adequate facilities, possibly putting passengers and planes in
peril," he said.
Indonesia currently operates 70 airports, 23 of which are
international gateways, including those in Jakarta, Surabaya,
Bali, Batam, Manado and Medan.
The A300-B4 airplane of the national carrier Garuda crashed in
a smog-shrouded ravine 45 kilometers (27 miles) south of Medan's
Polonia Airport. Poor visibility due to haze in the area as well
as a misunderstanding between air traffic control and the pilot
of flight GA-152 are being investigated as possible causes of the
worst disaster in Indonesia's aviation history.
Ervan said that there had been at least 3,372 flights canceled
in airports in Sumatra and Kalimantan during August and
September.
He said that there were 959 canceled flights in Pontianak in
West Kalimantan, 568 in Samarinda in East Kalimantan and 358 in
Padang, West Sumatra. (icn)