RI-HK firms to operate Bojonegara seaport

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian and Hong Kong firms created PT Teluk Banten Peti Kemas Indonesia here yesterday to develop and operate the 1,200-hectare port in Bojonegara, West Java, which will cost a total of US$700 million to build.

The incorporation deeds for the joint venture were signed by state-owned PT Pelabuhan Indonesia II's president, Amir Harbani, PT Bina Jasa Hantarindo's president, Bob Hippy, and the head of business development for Hutchison Port Holdings of Hong Kong, Eddie E.G. Teh.

The new company is 30 percent owned by Pelabuhan II, 25 percent by Bina Jasa, which is owned by President Soeharto's son Bambang Trihatmodjo, and 45 percent by Hutchison.

Hippy said yesterday Teluk Banten Peti Kemas Indonesia had a paid-up capital of $60 million.

Several foreign companies, including International Container Services of the Philippines, Patrick Stevedoring of Australia and the Hamburg Port Authority of Germany, had expressed interest in the Bojonegara project.

Teh said Hutchison managed 15 ports, including the Felixtowe port in Britain, the Balboa Cristobal port on the Panama Canal, the Freeport port in the Bahamas and the Shanghai and the Yantian container terminals in China.

"The Bojonegara port, expected to ease traffic at Jakarta's Tanjung Priok port, would be almost twice the size of the 600- hectare Tanjung Priok," Harbani noted.

Tanjung Priok has two container terminals. A third terminal, requiring much land reclamation, is being developed by PT Manggala Krida Yuda, a subsidiary of the Humpuss Group which is controlled by President Soeharto's youngest son, Hutomo Mandala Putra.

Tanjung Priok cannot berth container ships with a draft over 12 meters or a capacity over 2,500 twenty-feet equivalent units (TEUs). The port has been frequently criticized for its inefficiency and heavy red tape which cause congestion.

The Bojonegara port in Banten regency, scheduled to be fully completed in 2007, is designed to accommodate the latest generation of container ships with a draft of up to 18 meters and a capacity over 6,000 TEUs.

Teluk Banten Peti Kemas Indonesia will run the Bojonegara port under a 30-year build, operate and transfer contract. The port will include a bulk grain terminal, a bulk liquid terminal and other commercial facilities.

The port is expected to handle up to 2.4 million TEUs yearly. (icn)

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