PT Lamtoro Gung will upgrade Solo airport

JAKARTA (JP): PT Citra Lamtoro Gung Persada has been appointed to take part in a project to upgrade Adisumarmo airport in Solo (Surakarta), Central Java, to an international terminal, and to get involved in the running of the facility.

Project officer Darma Tyanto Saptodewo of Lamtoro Gung said here over the weekend that the project would be carried out in several phases, with the first one already underway. This phase is expected to be completed in March next year.

The first phase, carried out by Lamtoro Gung's subsidiary PT Yala Perkasa Internasional in cooperation with the government, involves an investment of Rp 28 billion (US$12.17 million), Darma said.

Of this amount, Rp 17 billion (60.7 percent) will be derived from Lamtoro Gung's own funds and the remaining Rp 11 billion (39.3 percent) from the state budget.

Darma explained that the project will be conducted on a 20- year joint-operation (KSO) contract basis.

Revenues will be split between Lamtoro Gung and the state- owned airport company, PT Angkasa Pura, according to their share in the project. Apart from that, Lamtoro Gung -- which is controlled by President Soeharto's eldest daughter, Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana -- will also give Angkasa Pura 15 percent of its revenues as a goodwill payment, Darma said.

This is the first time that a private company has been involved in a KSO project for the development of an airport.

In the first phase, Lamtoro Gung's investment will go towards interior designing and landscaping of the new terminal.

It will also be used for the construction of new parking grounds, access roads to the airport, additional facilities in the passenger terminal, cargo warehouses and a passenger terminal for the project's second phase.

Meanwhile, Angkasa Pura will extend the airport's runway to 3,600 meters to accommodate wide-body aircraft such as Boeing 747-400's. Currently, the runway -- measuring 1,850 meters -- can only receive aircraft up to the size of Boeing-737's.

Upon the completion of the first phase, Lamtoro Gung and Angkasa Pura will jointly manage the passenger terminals, cargo warehouses, car parks and other commercial areas.

The government declared Adisumarmo an international airport in 1989 upon becoming aware of the tourism potential of Solo and Yogyakarta -- the traditional centers of Javanese culture.

The region is currently being developed as an international tourist destination. But the government has not developed the airport yet.

In 1993, Minister of Public Works Radinal Moochtar invited the private sector to join in the financing and upgrading of the airport.

The government aims to expand Adisumarmo's capacity to accommodate two million passengers by the year 2000. The airport is expected to become both a transit terminal as well as the main gateway to Central Java and Yogyakarta.

The airport currently has a capacity of 144 domestic flights and 76 international flights.

Darma said the first stage of the project will see the airport being expanded to 8,300 square meters -- from the present 2,092 square meters -- to accommodate 300 domestic and 300 international flights.

He confirmed that Lamtoro Gung is also planning to construct a toll road connecting Solo and Yogyakarta. This toll road may be linked to Solo's integrated bus terminal and the Adisumarmo airport.

The government's decision to upgrade Adisumarmo to an international airport was taken because Semarang's Ahmad Yani and Yogyakarta's Adisucipto airports were less suitable, from a geographic viewpoint.

Central Java currently enjoys average economic growth of 7 percent to 10 percent a year. Meanwhile, the international tourism sector in Indonesia is rising at nine percent per annum.

Adisumarmo is expected to receive 351,953 domestic passengers in 1998, 926,897 in 2008 and 2,929,219 passengers in 2021. (pwn)