The wheels are turning to bring Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s maritime connectivity plan to fruition with state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in the logistics and maritime sectors signing a rash of MOUs and cooperation agreements to fast track development in the sector, according to local reports.
Dominant port operator Pelindo II signed a blanket agreement with western region port operator Pelindo I to develop ports in the western part of Indonesia, and another agreement with Pelindo IV to develop ports in the eastern part of Indonesia.
Pelindo II is also kicking development plans in its home region into high gear with a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with another six state-owned enterprises for construction deals.
These include deals with construction firm Waskita Karya, for the Cimanggis-Cibitung toll road development, and state mining firms Antam and Inalum for the utilization of the soon-to-be-developed Kijing Port in West Kalimantan, which will support a smelter-grade alumina refinery in Mempawah, West Kalimantan as well as boost the container handling capacity of Pontianak Port which has reached its limit.
“This is a step toward implementing our maritime roadmap, which includes ports, shipping, logistics and industry to support it all,” State-owned Enterprises Ministry deputy head of transportation construction, infrastructure and facilities Pontas Tambunan said.
Pelindo II acting president director Dede Martin said that he also expected the joint venture with the fellow state operators to improve connectivity between state ports, standardizing facilities and services across the country where they currently collectively run 61 ports. Dede added the cooperation with Waskita Karya would also smooth shipping logistics out of the country’s biggest port Tanjung Priok in Jakarta through the development of the Cimanggis-Cibitung and Cibitung-Cilincing tollroads.
“When our first phase of the Tanjung Priok development is done, we will have an additional container capacity of 4.5m teu and then 15mm teu, when Kalibaru Port is done. We will need the toll road for the smooth operation of shipping,” he said.
Meanwhile, state shipping firm Pelni also signed MoUs with eight enterprises, including with state logistics firm Bulog for commodity shipping and state warehousing firm Bhanda Ghara Reksa for logistics operations.
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