Soekarno-Hatta International Airport will get increased capacity and two rail lines as part of development plans now being drafted, Vice President Boediono said on Tuesday.

“The development of Soekarno-Hatta should be a national priority,” he said in a meeting with ministers.

“The longer we delay the work, the more difficult it becomes.”

The airport was built to handle around 22 million passengers a year. In 2010, however, it served 44.2 million passengers.

Yopie Hidayat, Boediono’s spokesman, said addressing that gap was the focal point of the development plan.

“The target is to increase Soekarno-Hatta’s capacity to 62 million passengers per year by 2014,” he said.

“That will mean increasing the apron capacity from the current 125 aircraft to 174 aircraft.”

He said the government did not plan to add another runway in the near future, but would reconfigure the existing two runways to make optimum use of them.

State-owned airport operator Angkasa Pura II has been appointed to draft the redesign and has been given two weeks to submit it for approval.

Part of the plan includes completing the development of Terminal 3 by 2013, renovating Terminals 1 and 2, building a new cargo terminal by 2013 and completing the integration of all terminals with supporting facilities by 2014.

The project has been budgeted at around Rp 11.75 trillion ($1.4 billion), which will come from a combination of loans from state banks and investment organized by Angkasa Pura.

Yopie said the next phase of development for Soekarno-Hatta would include the building of Terminal 4 and a third runway, but that was contingent on the results of a feasibility study to be announced next year by the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

“Clearly the biggest challenge to this project will be the appropriation of land for the new facilities, which will require 820 hectares,” he said.

There were currently 2,000 homes built in the area where the new runway and terminal were expected to be built, he added. Acquiring that land is expected to cost the government Rp 4.5 trillion, while another Rp 2.5 trillion will also have to come from the state budget to build the runway.

The funding for Terminal 4 will come from Angkasa Pura, likely through loans and outside investment.

Should this project fall through, the government says the alternative is to build a new airport in East Jakarta to handle 100 million passengers a year. Under this plan, the new airport is expected to be in operation by 2019.

Yopie said another major development for the airport would be the construction of two commuter rail lines, one connecting the airport to Tangerang and the other to Pluit in North Jakarta.

He said the seven-kilometer link to Tangerang would be built by state railway operator Kereta Api Indonesia at a cost of Rp 2.3 trillion, including the acquisition of land.

“It will serve five million passengers a year, on the basis of operating hours of 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.,” Yopie said.

He said the rail link to Pluit, which is still being discussed, would be funded under a public-private partnership. It is expected to serve 10 million passengers a year operating from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., or 20 million working around the clock.

To address overcapacity at Soekarno-Hatta in the short term, the government says it is considering moving some airlines to Halim Perdana Kusuma Airport in East Jakarta or to Pondok Cabe Airport in South Tangerang for those serving only domestic flights.

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/boediono-lays-out-ambitious-growth-plans-for-airport/443030

Boediono Lays Out Ambitious Growth Plans For Airport

HOME TV1ONE

44620

LABEL BERITA

TERBANYAK DIBACA

TIP BISNIS PEMULA

TOP BREAKING NEWS

POPULAR MINGGU INI

TIPS KELUARGA