Local media reported that the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) has given a qualified endorsement to the plan, provided it is in line with the current govenment's national logistics plan, which aims to bring logistics costs down from 26% to 19% within the next five years.
Kadin deputy chairman for regional empowerment Natsir Mansyur said the sea highway plan was quite realistic in terms of supporting economic growth in the eastern part of the country but reiterated that current SisLogNas national logistics blueprint slated for development till 2025, must be incorporated.
“It is very important to start shifting our dependency on land transportation to sea transportation. However, the incoming government and all the stakeholders should first reach a common understanding regarding the sea highway initiative,” Natsir was quoted as saying. “Will all the logistics plans be connected to each other or not? It should be clearly explained,” he emphasised.
The SisLogNas plan has designated Kuala Tanjung Port in North Sumatra and Bitung in North Sulawesi as the country’s international hub ports for the eastern and western parts of the country, while Jokowi's sea highway initiative aims to connect five major cities — Medan in North Sumatra, Jakarta, Surabaya in East Java, Makassar in South Sulawesi and Sorong in West Papua.
In addition, his economic team has said that within the next five years, a total of 10 commercial seaports were slated to be built or revitalized, specifically naming Belawan in North Sumatra, Kalibaru in North Jakarta, Bitung in North Sulawesi and Sorong in West Papua.
Meanwhile, all these plans also need to tie in with state-owned port operator Pelindo II’s Pendulum Nusantara programme, Natsir said. This aims to connect six main ports — Belawan in North Sumatra; Batam in Riau Islands; Tanjung Priok in Jakarta; Tanjung Perak in East Java; Makassar in South Sulawesi; and Sorong in West Papua.
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