Two additional ferries for Lagoi resort

INTAN, Riau Islands: PT Bintan Resort Cakrawala (BRC), the operator of Lagoi integrated resort, has added two more ferry ships between Bintan Island and Singapore.

The ships, named Wan Seri Beni and Wan Sendari, were inaugurated by Riau Island Governor Ismeth Abdullah and Singaporean senior minister for trade and industry, S. Iswaran, at Bandar Bintan Telani Port on Monday.

PT BRC President Brig. Gen. ret. Chin Chow Yoon revealed the company had invested S$31 million (US$22 million) for the new ships, which each have a 300-passenger capacity.

Chin said PT BRC had operated three ships plying the Singapore to Bintan route from 1991.

With the additional ships, he said the company had estimated an increase of foreign tourists visits, from 360,000 people last year to 400,000 people in 2009. - JP