Seaport Infrastructure Indonesia: Patimban to Replace Cilamaya?
Indonesia's Ministry of Transportation has completed a feasibility study for the development of the Patimban seaport in West Java. Although there are no official statements made by the Indonesian government, it is expected that the Patimban seaport is the most suitable candidate to replace the Cilamaya port project in Karawang (West Java). This project was cancelled in April 2015 as the location was too closely located to an oil and gas block operated by Pertamina Hulu Energi Offshore North West Java, a unit of state-owned energy company Pertamina.
Mauritz Sibarani, Head of Port Development at Indonesia's Ministry of Transportation, said the government will first analyze results of the feasibility study before making a decision. For now, however, there are three factors that make Patimban a good replacement for the Cilamaya seaport.
Firstly, at the location in Patimban there already exists a seaport. Although this port is small there is room for expansion (up to 200 hectares). Secondly, the location is strategically located (70 km away) from to the industrial zone of Cikarang. Thirdly, the location is unaffected by severe traffic congestion around the Greater Jakarta Region.
The government will now focus on the detailed engineering design for the Patimban seaport project. This can take up to one year before it is completed. If results are promising then it will still require an environmental impact assessment. As such, Sibarani estimates that any tenders will only be submitted somewhere next year, the earliest, provided results from the various studies are positive. Construction of the seaport is expected to cost at least USD $4 billion.
Although there are no official statements made by the Indonesian government regarding the development of the Patimban seaport, it is expected that the government will appoint private developers and operators (as was the plan for the Cilamaya seaport project).
Indonesia needs a new international port in West Java as the existing Tanjung Priok port in North Jakarta (the largest Indonesian seaport handling about 65 percent of the country's international trade) has been receiving more cargo than it can handle, hence resulting in high logistics costs. Currently this port has a cargo dwelling time of 4.5 days.
Location of the Patimban Port:
Bahas
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