Currently, the Sea and Coast Guard directs traffic in and out of Jakarta Bay, the Thousand Islands administration provides infrastructure such as roads and docks on the islands, while the Jakarta Transportation Agency provides affordable boat and ferry service.

“A well-managed transportation system is urgently needed to attract tourists and ease their safe journey to Thousand Islands. And the regency administration seems to have done nothing about this,” Nafri said, adding that the chaos at Maura Angke on Saturday was a typical weekend occurrence.

As the number of tourists to Thousand Islands steadily increases, the regency, once part of North Jakarta municipality, has lagged in efforts to support tourism.

There are no signs of improved transportation or support infrastructure in the regency, which has a total area of 8.7 square kilometers and a population of more than 20,000.

The number of boats serving the regency is hard to determine. According to data compiled by the
Sea and Coast Guard and the regency administration, less than 6,000 boats of various types ferry from 15,000 to 20,000 people to and from Thousand Islands every weekday and more people on the weekend.

According to the Sea and Coast Guard, fishermen and local residents run 15 boats that can accommodate around 150 passengers to and from Muara Angke fishing village every day, while Thousand Islands Regency administration ope-rates 40 boats that can accommodate from 60 and 120 passengers each.

In addition to the boats at Muara Angke, the Jakarta Transportation Agency provides four grouper-shaped boats with a capacity of 20 passengers each and a dolphin-shaped boat that can carry around 35 passengers to transport tourists from Ancol, North Jakarta.

“These boats provide an affordable service of between Rp 28,000 (US$3.30) and Rp 30,000 per trip,” transportation agency head Udar Pristono told the Post, adding that the agency would provide two additional 200-passenger boats in 2012.

Pristono said that boats meeting safety standards could not be made of wood and had to have life jackets and seats for all passengers.

“The boats provided by fishermen and local residents are illegal because they don’t have licenses, nor do they meet basic standards.

The most dangerous thing is that the boats are made of wood,” he said.

Roy, the operator of the www.pulauseribu.net website providing information on Thousand Islands’ tourism industry, told the Post that most people, especially the poor and middle class, preferred to embark at Muara Angke because voyages were cheaper, starting at about Rp 30,000.

“A seat on a fancier boat from Ancol run by a company might cost around Rp 250,000,” he said.

Muara Angke port was not designed to accommodate passengers, he said, although that did not deter local fishermen and residents from transporting people to and from Thousand Islands.

“Constructing another dock at the port that is specifically dedicated to transport people might help,” Roy said.

The independent Rujak Center for Urban Studies previously reported that Jakarta has been taking more revenue out of Thousand Islands regency than it returns.

A research report published by the center said that Jakarta allocated Rp 170.9 billion to Thousand Islands regency in 2010, which produced Rp 1.86 trillion in revenue based on the production of 2.87 million barrels of crude oil. (msa)

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