Indonesia to Build Four New Ports In Frontier Areas

Batam, Riau Islands (Antara Bali) - The government will build four new seaports in frontier area of Batam  in 2015 as part of the "sea toll road" project as envisioned by President Joko Widodo.

Joko Widodo first spoke about sea toll road  in his pre election campaign a project to facilitate sea transport between the country's western region and its more backward eastern region.  

The four port projects will be financed by the Central Government with fund from the state budget," said head of the Batam city transport service Zulhendri here on Friday.

The four ports in three sub-district areas of Bulang, Nongsa  and Belakang Padang on the Batam island just a few miles south of Singapore.

The sub-district of Bulang will have two ports  and the two other sub-district are will have one each, Zulhendri said.

He said the government has  set set aside around Rp6 billion to build the feeder ports .

"They are only small ports to facilitate  local  coasters shipping mainly local goods,"  he said.

The four ports, which are expected to be operational in 2015, are expected to cope with difficulties in distribution of goods needed by local people, he added.

Meanwhile the Riau Island provincial administration said it hopes to put into operation 11 new ports  in 2016 to support the sea toll road project.

The 11 new ports would be built  on the islands of  Serasan,  Subi, Sedanau  and Laut in the regency of  Natuna , and islands of  Tanjungmoco  and Malarko  in the regency of  Karimun  and in  Dompak, Tanjungpinang.

The 11 new ports are expected to facilitate inter island transport in the islands province. (WDY)