The Mempawah administration is pinning high hopes on Kijing International Port in Mempawah regency, West Kalimantan, becoming a driver of the economy in Kalimantan.

According to the Mempawah administration, it will be a deep sea port equipped with the largest digital system in Kalimantan.

Acting Mempawah regent Gusti Ramlana said on Wednesday that construction of the port would enable the Mempawah administration to better tap into economic potentials in Kalimantan.

“I hope at least 50 companies will build factories in a special economic zone, which later will be integrated with the port so that many workers will be absorbed and its economic impacts will hopefully spread. This [port] will become a new economic nerve center of this region,” Ramlana said at start of the port construction.

Indonesia Port Corporations (IPC) technical and risk manager director Dani Rusli Utama said the first phase of the four-phase project was scheduled for completion within 18 months.

Among construction activities being carried out in the first phase are the building of a 1-square kilometer quay compound and a 10-hectare compound housing a container terminal with a capacity of 500,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) of the total 1 million TEU expected. (ebf)

Under process: A construction worker passes an area where Kijing International Port will be built in Kunyit River district, Mempawah regency, West Kalimantan, on April 11. (JP/Severianus Endi)