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)