Thousand Islands' site slated for development

Thousand Islands' site slated for development

JAKARTA (JP): The city administration plans to renovate the
airport and seaport on the 800-hectare Panjang Island in the
Thousand Islands, and also develop safety and health services in
the area in a bid to attract tourists, a city official said.

Head of the city tourism agency Witjaksono Moewardi said on
Tuesday the plans also included the provision of small airplanes
at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport and Halim Perdanakusuma
Airport, both in Jakarta, which could be chartered to fly to and
from the island.

"Governor Sutiyoso has given the go-ahead (to the tourism
agency) to send a letter of request to the Ministry of
Transportation, which currently operates the Panjang Island
airstrip, to let the administration run it," Witjaksono said.

He said the project could begin in 2000 and be completed in
one year at an estimated total cost of Rp 10 billion (US$1.4
million).

Works would include the renovation of an empty building, which
would be converted into a medical clinic.

"A SAR (Search & Rescue) post will be built together with a
logistics post and a small garbage dumping site," Witjaksono
said.

Construction of the dumping site, he added, was mainly aimed
at addressing complaints made by environmentalists, who have
repeatedly expressed concerns about threats to the island's
biodiversity.

Witjaksono said several private companies had expressed an
interest in investing in the renovation of airport facilities. He
declined to name the interested parties.

Currently, airplanes are chartered from Soekarno-Hatta Airport
to fly to a "few selected islands in the Thousand Islands".

"The difference? Panjang Island not only has an airstrip, but
a seaport that will provide motorboats to reach any of the 107
islands which make up the Thousand Islands.

"The seaport is currently rundown and hardly used. The
administration also plans to upgrade the seaport, and work with
private companies to provide the seaport with motorboats."

The Thousand Islands, an area of 69,976 square kilometers (of
which 9,214 is land), is a popular marine resort north of
Jakarta.

At least 28 of the 108 islands are privately owned, 34 are
owned by private companies, with only 11 islands settled by
locals, including Panjang Island.

Tourist potential

The House of Representatives recently approved a draft law on
regional administration, which states that the Thousand Islands
will be upgraded from a district to an administrative regency.

Some of the islands are readily accessible by boat from Sunda
Kelapa harbor in North Jakarta at a cost of Rp 8,500 per
passenger.

On Monday, Witjaksono said Jakarta's administration had
decided to focus its efforts on attracting tourists to the
capital for marine and shopping activities.

The old city of Kota in West Jakarta and Pasar Baru shopping
complex in Central Jakarta, for example, have been determined as
prime spots for the city's beautification projects, each of which
would cost between Rp 2 million and Rp 3 million.

"We won't make any changes. We will just beautify the area by
exploring local possibilities. That's why the project does not
need very much money," he said.

The beautification projects were mainly aimed at restoring the
city's image which was dealt a severe blow in the May 1998 riots
when thousands of buildings were damaged or burnt, he said.

Witjaksono said that for the marine tourism, the project would
integrate tourism spots in the 88 hectares of the Kota area, the
Thousand Islands and Tambora and Taman Sari districts.

The downtown Kota area, the nearest tourist site from the old
harbor of Sunda Kelapa, is home to several museums covering
Jakarta's history, puppets and ceramics. It is also the site for
the historical Kota Intan bridge, old historical buildings and
the Glodok shopping complex.

Witjaksono said the administration would improve the
pedestrian walking areas around the tourist vicinity.

He said the administration had selected Pasar Baru as the
shopping tourism spot because it was the oldest shopping complex
in the city, dating back to the Dutch colonial era, and was well
known for its shoes and textiles.

He said the administration would make a start on the project
by managing the often haphazard presence of sidewalk vendors and
by erecting canopies along sections of roads.

Jakarta and its more than 10 million population have been told
about similar beautification plans for years. Few of the plans'
promises have been delivered. (ind/ylt)