RI's sea transportation needs improvement: Expert

RI's sea transportation needs improvement: Expert

BANDUNG (JP): Sea transportation in Indonesia is less popular
than ground or air transportation despite the fact that the
archipelagic country has more than 13,000 islands, an expert
says.

Ofyar Z. Tamin of the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB)
said in an interview with The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that this
also contradicted the fact that most of the Indonesian people are
in the low income bracket.

"The development of sea transportation has been slower than
that of air and ground. Why do we develop an open-sky policy that
will benefit the rich? Sea transportation, which serves mostly
poor people, does need serious attention," he said.

The sea transportation system and the development of its
infrastructure have been centralized in Java, he said.
"Furthermore our sea transportation system focuses on the
transport of goods, instead of people as most of the sea ports
were built in areas which are rich in natural resources."

"It's time for the government 'to restructure' the system,
build more sea ports and purchase more vessels," he said. "The
implementation of Law No. 22/1999 on regional autonomy makes it
opportune to develop a new sea transportation system now."

Ofyar's colleague, Agus Salim Ridwan, shared his opinion,
saying that the current paradigm of sea transportation has yet to
bring about an improvement in people's mobility.

The sea transportation system developed by the government had
been based on economic and regional concepts, and state
administrative policies, said Agus Salim Ridwan, also from ITB,
during a two-day seminar here last week.

"This has resulted in the sea transportation network being
centralized in Java, mainly focusing on transporting goods, not
people,"

Decentralization of sea transportation is a must, he said.
"Centralization has hampered the development of seaports in
several regions. The sea transportation system has also become a
key cause for the economic and social disparity between Java and
the other islands."

The sea transportation network has also improperly utilized
the archipelagic marine potential, he said. "The potential has
instead become hurdles."

Indonesia has more than 13,000 islands and 80 percent of its
territory or 7.9 million square kilometers, is water.

Judging from this fact, Agus said, an appropriate sea
transportation system should be formulated to hasten progress and
development of the islands.

"The government must change its policy and paradigm on sea
transportation. In the eastern part of the country, the primary
purpose of sea transportation should be to connect people living
in remote regions to the more developed areas to improve their
economic status." he said.

He also said that the Indonesian sea transportation network
should anticipate the Asia-Pacific economic growth by emphasizing
the expansion of strategic seaports, including, Belawan, Batam,
Panjang, Bojonegoro, Tanjung Priok, Tanjung Emas, Tanjung Perak,
Makassar, Banjarmasin, Benoa, Bitung, Ambon, Sorong, Biak and
Jayapura. "Our sea transportation network must also aim to
establish links with Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Middle East
through open ports." (25/sur)