Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly inaugurated on Wednesday an immigration office located on the Marina Ancol wharf in North Jakarta, as part of efforts to ease the processing of foreign visitors entering the capital by sea.

Marina Ancol primarily serves yachts and speed boats transporting tourists to and from the Thousand Islands regency.

A majority of foreign tourist coming through the wharf are from Singapore and Hong Kong. They previously had to go to nearby immigration offices to conduct immigration checks.

The newly inaugurated office located directly on the wharf would save tourists the time and effort of having to search for an immigration office, while also allowing officials to keep better records of foreigners arriving by sea.

“We hope that with the facility, more foreign tourists will come [to Jakarta],” Yasona said on Wednesday as quoted by tempo.co.

The new immigration office was the result of a cooperation between the West Jakarta Immigration office and PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol. (cal)