The construction of the port is part of efforts to support the government’s programme to solve the country’s logistic distribution bottlenecks in the eastern region.
“The development of this new port would significantly help improve the country’s logistic performance as it will ease the burden on Tanjung Priok Port [in Jakarta] and Tanjung Perak Port [in Surabaya],” Pelindo IV president director Mulyono was quoted as saying.
He added that at present most cargo heading to Singapore or to other countries from the eastern part of the country was shipped from Jakarta or Surabaya due to the limited capacity in Makassar.
“The development will support the government’s maritime highway programme as Makassar would play the part of an international hub for the eastern region along with Bitung [North Sulawesi] and Sorong [Papua],” he said.
According to Mulyono, the contract value amounted to IDR 326bn ($247,760) and the construction work, which will begin next week, and comprises 16 hectares of reclamation and the development of a 320-meter-long quay, will be completed in early 2018.
PTPP director of operations Ketut Darmawan added that the company had also established a cooperation with Pelindo I to construct Kuala Tanjung and Belawan ports in North Sumatra as well as with Pelindo II to construct New Priok Port.
By operating a new port, Pelindo IV, which manages ports in the country’s east, hopes to increase its capacity to handle larger volumes of containers in Makassar as business activities grow.
The existing port has a capacity of 700,000 teu but with the first stage of development of the new port, it will have an additional capacity of 400,000 teu. The port operator handled 560,000 teu last year.
“With an additional 400,000 teu in capacity, we hope to record an additional IDR320bn in revenue per year,” Mulyono said.
Meanwhile it is expected that the whole Makassar port project will require around IDR12trn in total funds and would be finished in 2030 with a total additional capacity of 3.5m teu, Mulyono said.
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