YPMAK Backs Government Talks on Transport Challenges Facing Communities
Timika (ANTARA) - The Amungme and Kamoro Community Empowerment Foundation (YPMAK), which manages PT Freeport Indonesia’s partnership funds, supports the Mimika administration in Central Papua in discussing transport difficulties currently faced by communities in Mimika’s coastal and mountainous areas.
YPMAK Chair Leonardus Tumuka said in Timika on Monday that sea and air transport were among the obstacles residents faced in bringing agricultural and fishery products to market in Timika.
“As a strategic partner of the government, we are ready to sit down with the authorities and other stakeholders to discuss and find solutions to the transport problems currently affecting the community,” he said.
Leonardus said conditions in waters across several coastal areas were also a concern. Shallowing was occurring in both the east and west, and the situation was being compounded by factors such as erosion.
“When people choose to travel by sea, it is also very dangerous because the weather is unpredictable and poses a serious risk to them,” he said.
He said better transport access would have a direct impact on people’s lives, particularly by enabling residents to travel and allowing local businesses to distribute their products from coastal and inland areas to the city centre.
Leonardus hoped residents could travel more frequently and according to a regular schedule. This would make it easier for them to travel to and from their villages and bring their catches and garden produce to the city for sale.
“Transport access here is especially important for residents travelling to and from their villages. If possible, services should run regularly and frequently throughout the week. This would also help move catches and garden produce directly to the city,” he said.
Transport access in the mountainous areas must also be a shared concern, so that residents there can transport their agricultural produce.
In the short term, ensuring transport access is particularly important to support communities, he said.
For the long term, he also called on the government to ensure that roads connect to the far western and far eastern parts of Mimika.
“We should try to improve the topography, which has become shallow as a result of erosion. Other areas of Papua need sand; could this sand be moved to Merauke and Asmat? This needs to be done with all stakeholders working together to help our communities,” he said.
Mimika’s mountainous areas also face transport difficulties, and residents there have a very hard time accessing essential services.
“We need to discuss this together until we reach a complete solution, and determine what the long-term approach should be,” he said.
He said improving transport access was essential to strengthening connectivity and boosting economic activity among communities in Mimika’s coastal and mountainous areas.