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Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Indonesian Government to Build 45 New Airports

The transportation ministry is preparing to build and relocate a total of 45 airports over the next decade in order to support the development of Indonesia's aviation industry, an official said on Saturday.

Herry Bakti S. Gumay, the director general of air transportation at the Transportation Ministry, said the move was to address the rapid development of the aviation industry, not only in terms of passengers carried but also expansions of routes and fleets in Indonesia.

“In the first phase, we will build 24 new airports until 2017, and then the rest will be built gradually up to 2022,” he said.

He said that the first phase had already begun last year and that eight airports had already achieved good performances, including Muara Bungo airport in Jambi, the Tual Baru airport in Maluku, the Waisai Raja Ampat airport in Papua, the Enggano airport in Bengkulu, the Sumarorong second phase airport in Mamasa, West Sulawesi, the Waghete Baru airport and the Kamanap Baru, both in Papua and the Pekoserai airport in Lampung.

These eight airports, he said, had runways between 900 and 1,400 meters long and 300 meters wide, enough to accommodate a ATR-42 and ATR-72, DHC-7, Casa C-212 and Hercules C-130.

“For the construction a minimum of Rp 200 billion ($21.2 million) for one airport is needed. The transportation ministry this year has a Rp 3 trillion allotment for infrastructure construction,” Herry said.

Meanwhile, Transportation Ministry spokesman Bambang S. Ervan, said the ministry had already disbursed Rp 205.34 billion in funds for the Muaro Bungo airport in Jambi which was now 100 percent completed.

Bambang said the airport’s construction began in 2006 by the district authority and in 2007 the central government took part. The airport will be operated by the Bungo district authorities.

“Although it has been inaugurated, the operation of the airport still has to wait for the airport certification from the airport directorate at the air transportation directorate general of the Transportation Ministry,” he said, adding that the airport was inaugurated on Saturday.

Investor Daily

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