Cilamaya Port Will Be Reviewed

Cilamaya Port Will Be Reviewed

JAKARTA – The government ensured the plan to develop Cilamaya Port, Karawang Regency, West Java will be reviewed.

National Development Planning Board (BPPN) Minister, Andrinof Chaniago, said his office is forming a team to study the feasibility of Cilamaya Port project to be resumed or not.

“We will review it from various aspects since it may inflict great loss,” he said in Jakarta on Tuesday (1/20).

Andrinof said Cilamaya Port development may inflict loss to West Java residents specifically and national economy in general.

According to him, Cilamaya Port will disrupt PT Pertamina facilities which have been installed there. It surely goes against the country’s priority to improve national oil production.

According to Bisnis’s data, at least five wells of PT Pertamina Hulu Energi (PHE) ONWJ will be disrupted exploration and production process since it is located nearby vessel sailing route to the port. Moreover, several production platforms may also be closed.

Moreover, Andrinof said Cilamaya Port development will significantly disrupt people’s farms especially if industrial area is built there.

According to him, the land which will be used is productive land for paddy production. It will surely inflict loss to the surrounding people whose lives depend on agriculture sector.

“We have to calculate land supporting power if agglomeration, drop acceleration, and agricultural land usage shift occur,” he said.

Andrinof does not ensure how much time is needed for review process. Meanwhile, the project resume really depends on the review result.

Andrinof said for the review team, his office will involve Geospatial Information Agency (BIG). The review result will be reviewed by other independent parties.

“We will do it ourselves. If outside party conducts it, there will be conflict of interest. It will be business,” he said.

Other Projects

Andrinof ensured the government’s decision after the review will not disrupt investment climate between Indonesia and Japan. Cilamaya Port project is one of the projects handled by Japanese investor.

“Japan ambassador has sent a letter to me. This is very good and he respects me so much,” he said.

He ensured Japan will await the decision from Indonesia and will accept any decisions. Meanwhile, the government is offering some other projects to Japanese investors.

“We offer the others to them. We have several projects in Kalimantan. We will build many industrial areas outside Java,” he said.

Cilamaya Port was previously planned to anticipate overload in Tanjung Priok Port. However, Andrinof ensured the running Tanjung Priok Port revitalization and expansion will be a good solution.  Later, the government will improve supporting infrastructure to Tanjung Priok Port.

Prior to that, Andrinof ensured the government will cancel three infrastructure projects which will be worked on by Japanese investors since it disrupts other sectors.

Based on Bappenas’ review, three of 20 infrastructure projects which will be conducted by Japan have been cancelled from project list.

At that time, Andrinof did not want to disclose three Japanese projects which will be cancelled by Bappenas from 2015-2019 national development plan. However, the project is related with infrastructure and transportation.

“One of which is high-speed train from Jakarta to Surabaya. I will tell the other two later,” he added. (Bisnis Indonesia)