There are several examples of underutilized infrastructure projects in Indonesia. However, there are also many good examples of well-planned infrastructure projects that should be used as an example in building other infrastructure. One of which is the Patimban Port project.

Patimban Port is one of the national strategic projects (PSN), located in Subang, West Java. The main objectives of its development are to improve the national logistics index and collaborate with Tanjung Priok Port to serve as a new and competitive hub in Southeast Asia. It is in a strategic location where interconnectivity has been in development, including toll access, railways and near industrial estates. Additionally, the development of Patimban Port is also marked as the first step toward a new metropolitan area called Rebana, which includes Sumedang, Majalengka, Cirebon, Subang, Indramayu and Kuningan regencies and Cirebon municipality. The metropolitan area itself was home to 9.3 million people in 2019.

The construction of Patimban Port started in 2018 and it is expected to be in full operation in 2027. As of today, Patimban Port is in phases 1-2 until 2023 and has been operating since 2021. Currently, Patimban Port has the capacity of 160,000 completely built-up (CBU) cars and 250,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of cargo. The government is using a public-private partnership (PPP) scheme and will continue its development until the port reaches the capacity of 600,000 CBU car terminals and 5.5 million TEUs of cargo with the total investment estimated at around Rp 43.2 trillion.

In the short term, we believe this project will be beneficial for West Java and the national economy. Using a traditional 17-sector Inter-Regional Input-Output (IRIO) analysis, we estimate the construction of this project will have an economic impact of Rp 33.6 trillion value-added, equivalent to 2.22 percent of the West Java gross domestic regional product (GRDP) in 2021 or a total of Rp 39.8 trillion (0.36 percent of Indonesia’s GDP in 2021), accounting for its spillover effect to other regions. Additionally, we estimate this project will also increase the total income by around Rp 10.8 trillion for West Java and Rp 12.8 trillion of national income. Furthermore, this port development is expected to create 361,000 jobs in West Java and 46,000 jobs elsewhere, creating 408,000 jobs in total.

In the long-term, Patimban Port will provide greater benefits to Indonesia’s economy as it provides several advantages. First, Patimban Port will reduce the burden of the existing major port, Tanjung Priok, allowing for more goods to be traded in and out of Indonesia. Coordinating Minister of Maritime and Investment Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan said in 2020 that Patimban Port will reduce the current traffic at Tanjung Priok, which accommodates around 52 percent of international trade traffic in Indonesia.

Second, Patimban Port will also reduce logistics costs, particularly for industrial estates located around West Java. It is estimated that the average time to move goods from industrial estates in West Java to Tanjung Priok is around four to five hours. In comparison, it will only take one to two hours to move goods to Patimban Port. Thus, the efficiency gained from this port will include a shorter time to move goods, lower fuel consumption and less maintenance for trucks. As Patimban will reduce the volume of goods traded from Tanjung Priok, the port may also reduce the overall traffic to Jakarta (particularly on the Jakarta-Cikampek toll road), reducing the average time to export goods from Tanjung Priok.

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