State-owned port operator Pelindo II will open a tender this week for the construction of a US$1.9 billion container terminal in North Jakarta to ease congestion at the existing container terminal at Tanjung Priok Port.

“We have prepared everything for the future. Based on the new master plan, we will be able to develop nine terminals in Kalibaru,” president director Richard Joost Lino told The Jakarta Post.

He said the tender would be for dredging and infrastructure development, which would cost about Rp 10 trillion ($1.1 billion). The other parts of the project will be offered to strategic investors interested in jointly operating the terminal.

In the first phase, the port operator will build a container berth with an annual capacity of 1.5 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) and expects to begin commercial operation in early 2014.

The Kalibaru terminal will in the long-run have six container and three fuel berths, he said. By having nine terminals, Pelindo II would increase the annual capacity at Kalibaru from 4 million to 10.5 million TEUs.

“We will be able to compete with the Singapore port because Jakarta will have two strong ports that have 15.5 million TEUs capacity,” he said.

As the main shipping gateway in the country, Tanjung Priok Port currently has an annual capacity of 5 million TEUs and is struggling with the problem of overcapacity.

According to Pelindo II data, 2011 container traffic at Tanjung Priok reached 5.8 million TEUs, up 23 percent from the 4.7 million TEUs in 2010.

The sea lane at Kalibaru Port will be doubled in size from 150 meters as stated in the old master plan, to 300 meters in order to increase shipping traffic.

In addition, the port will have a draft of 20 meters, 6 meters deeper than Tanjung Priok, allowing mega ships such as 18,000 TEU ships to enter the port, he said.

“Cruise ships will be able to dock at Kalibaru Port. This will be good to develop tourism,” he said.

The total investment to operate Kalibaru has risen to Rp 17 trillion ($1.9 billion), a 45 percent jump from the previous estimate of Rp 11.7 trillion ($1.28 billion). With nine terminals as well as toll road and railway access, he said Kalibaru would become the main port connecting Indonesia to the world. To support the infrastructure, Pelindo has spent $50 million to improve human capacity.

The Kalibaru terminal project was one of a dozen infrastructure projects initially offered to the private sector under a public-private partnership (PPP) scheme.

At least five local and foreign companies were short listed in the prequalification for the project, but last week the government announced that it had canceled the Kalibaru project due to a lack of money.

The government said it was not able to provide Rp 3 trillion ($330 million) in assistance for work on the bridge and dredging projects. For this reason, the government appointed Pelindo II to build the container terminal. (nfo)