T

he State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) Ministry will focus more on the development of sea ports and public transport in the country, supporting the new president'€™s maritime axis platform, the newly-appointed SOE minister says.

Minister Rini Soemarno said Monday that her main task [as well as the task of other new ministers] was to translate the president'€™s vision of a strong maritime country into reality.

'€œSo, one of my tasks is to see how our sea ports are developed by Pelindo I to IV and how to improve them, as well as to improve public transportation services like trains,'€ she told reporters at the ministry'€™s office.

It was the task of each minister in the new Cabinet to translate the President'€™s vision into action and to materialize the sea-toll project.

During his presidential campaign, President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo had reinstated a maritime-axis platform that involved a sea toll and modern fishing ships, among other things.

PT Pelabuhan Indonesia III (Pelindo III) and Pelindo IV had previously stated that they were repairing 24 ports in eastern Indonesia to accelerate the implementation of the sea-toll project.

Among the seaports being focused on are Tanjung Perak Port in Surabaya, Benoa Port in Bali, Bagendang Port in Sampit and Lembar Port in Kumai.

Pelindo III president director Djarwo Surjanto said earlier that his company aimed to raise investment funds of up to Rp 10 trillion (US$825.4 million) to develop international-level ports and to support the sea-toll project.

According to Rini, President Jokowi and Vice President Jusuf Kalla re-emphasized their vision and the mission of their administration, including carrying out the toll project, during the first Cabinet meeting at the Presidential Palace.

When asked whether she would continue her predecessor'€™s programs, Rini said that she would learn and review all of the programs first.

'€œI believe that Pak Dahlan (former SOE Minister) had done a lot, so I will review all of them first,'€ she said.

Meanwhile, Rini said that her short-term goal was to appoint new CEOs in a number of state enterprises that had lost their CEOs because they were appointed as ministers, had resigned or had finished their tenures.

'€œFor train operator PT KAI, I think we need to appoint a new CEO soon because the firm'€™s service is related to public transport,'€ she said.

Meanwhile for telecommunications firm PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom), the ministry would appoint the new CEO after a shareholders meeting.

Four state enterprises, namely KAI, Telkom, PT Pindad and energy firm PT Pertamina, are currently without CEOs.

The CEOs of KAI, Telkom and Pindad were all installed as new ministers in Jokowi'€™s Cabinet, while the Pertamina CEO, Karen Agustiawan, resigned from her post to pursue a teaching career at Harvard University.

Airline company PT Garuda Indonesia will also need a new CEO because its current CEO, Emirsyah Satar, will finish his tenure this month.

SOE Ministry deputy Muhammad Zamkhani said that Rini had discussed with the ministry'€™s deputies that she would give priority to internal candidates to replace the CEOs.