Vessels for Residents in Border Areas

Vessels for Residents in Border Areas

BATAM, Kompas – Riau Islands Provincial Government prepares IDR 30 billion to purchase passenger vessels. The vessels will be used to serve the residents in border area of Riau Islands with Jambi and Riau.

Riau Islands Governor, Muhammad Sani, in Batam on Tuesday (1/13) said the passenger vessels will serve the residents of Riau Islands with its two neighboring provinces. So far, some of the residents do not get routine service due to the lack of vessel.

“The residents can only rely on maritime transportation. However, voyage service and vessel capacity are limited so far,” he said.

The residents in Riau Islands with Riau and Jambi, so far, are served by speedboats. Those vessels pass by several islands. With vessel addition, Sani expected voyage intensity can increase. Therefore, people and commodity traffic can increase. “Our economy will improve if people and commodity traffic increase. In Riau Islands Province, the mobility needs vessels,” he said.

Sani said vessel addition from Riau Island Provincial Government is not enough. Other islands must be served. Riau Islands expected central government to provide vessel addition and to construct ports, especially for the outermost islands.

House Renovation

Wealth improvement is also conducted by constructing improper people’s houses. Every year, Riau Islands renovates averagely 4,000 improper houses. The renovation cost is paid mutually by provincial government and regency/city government in Riau Islands.

“One of welfare parameters is house. We assist house renovation so people do not need to worry about renovation cost from their limited income,” he said.

Related to the renovation, Karimun Deputy Regent, Aunur Rofiq, expected for regulation change. So far, there is a requirement that the houses to be renovated are those built on the land whose ownership is clear. The requirement complicates fishermen.

Many poor fishermen build houses on sea. Those houses mostly improper to be inhabited have no land ownership document. (Kompas)