T

he Transportation Ministry has said that they will provide Rp 3 trillion (US$330 million) in assistance for work on a bridge and dredging project at North Jakarta’s Kalibaru seaport.

“We have recently proposed Rp 3 trillion to the Finance Ministry to construct Kalibaru’s bridge and work on the dredging project,” the Ministry’s sea transportation director general Leon Muhammad said on Friday.

Should the Finance Ministry reject the proposal, the Transportation Ministry would discuss the construction with the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) and the Coordinating Economic Ministry, he added.

“We will seek a public-private partnership plan if we do not secure the Rp 3 trillion allotment from [the Finance Ministry],” he added.

Leon said that his Ministry expected to begin construction in the first quarter of 2012.

The total budget for construction of Kalibaru is estimated to be about Rp 11.75 trillion.

Coordinating Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa appointed state port operator Pelindo II to work on Kalibaru project earlier last week.

He did not provide details, however, as to which part of the Kalibaru project Pelindo II will handle.

Pelindo II corporate secretary Rima Novianti said the state operator is currently waiting for a license from the government to carry out construction on the Kalibaru project.

“We are still waiting for the license, but we are ready to work on this project immediately,” Rima told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

The Kalibaru terminal, expected to begin operating in 2014, would have a container handling capacity of 1.9 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs). Transportation Minister E.E. Mangindaan has said construction of the port should begin soon because the country’s main shipment gateway, Tanjung Priok port, was heavily congested.

Mangindaan said that if the port was not operational by early 2014, congestion at Tanjung Priok would impact the national economy because 60 to 70 percent of the country’s exports and imports pass through the port.

According to Pelindo II data, container traffic had reached 5.8 million TEUs by the end of 2011, up by 23 percent from 4.7 million TEUs in 2010, while the port’s current container volume capacity is only 5 million TEUs.

Pelindo II has been mulling short-term strategies to handle Tanjung Priok’s overcapacity problems.

Among the strategies is investing $250 million until July to buy new container loading cranes comprising of two quay container cranes (QCC) and 11 luffing container cranes (LFF).

In addition, the operator cooperated with state-run PT Telkom through Indonesia’s Logistics Community Service (ILCS) to create an integrated online platform to help streamline shipping traffic.