Indonesia plans to build container port in Batam

Riau Islands, January 24 (ANTARA) - Indonesia will build a container port in the Batam Free Trade Zone and Free Port in Tanjungpinggir, Sekupang Sub-district, that will directly face Singapore, the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment has announced. "We will build a green and smart port," Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said during a visit to the proposed location for the port in Batam, Riau Islands on Monday. The ministry has studied the seaport site, he said adding, the design of the port will be environmentally-friendly. The surrounding lake and mangroves need to be protected and nurtured, he remarked. As per the ministry's study, the sea depth at the location is suitable for building a seaport extending towards the sea, Pandjaitan said. The development area currently spans 94 hectares, but it will be increased to about 330 hectares through reclamation, he informed. Thus, the port would be larger than Tanjung Priok Port in Jakarta, he noted. The seaport is also planned to be connected to Kuala Tanjung Port in North Sumatra, he added. According to Pandjaitan, the port in Batam is part of the government's program for saving costs in port construction. In addition to port construction being halted on account of the COVID-19 pandemic, the cost of building a port in Indonesia is relatively high, with logistics needs accounting for 23 percent of the costs, higher than neighboring countries where logistics costs are pegged at around 13 percent, he noted. "We agreed that we would push the cost to drop by 17 percent by 2024," he informed. To encourage efficiency, he said his team has applied digitalization at the port through the National Logistic Ecosystem, which was launched in Batam in March 2020. Meanwhile, Minister of Transportation, Budi Karya Sumadi, said that his ministry has opened opportunities for the private sector as wide as possible through the construction of ports. "We (the government) act as the regulator, creating the time frame and study. The regional-owned enterprises (BUMDs) and private companies will invite the foreign investors," he explained.