He said he hoped with the full operation of the sea toll roads the disparity of the prices of staples between the western and regions would be narrowed by up to 30 percent.
"The drop must be more than (20 percent) so that prices (in eastern regions) would be more reasonable and prices would not go up and down," he said.
State-owned shipping company PT Pelni has earlier predicted there would be a potential drop in prices of staples by 20 to 25 percent.
Three sea toll roads have been operated in 2015 namely Route T 1 between Tanjung Perak (Surabaya-East Java) - Tual - Fak Fak - Kaimana - Timika (Papua) - Kaimana - Fak Fak - Tual - Tanjung Perak (served by KM Caraka Jaya Niaga III-32) Route T 4 between Tanjung Priok (Jakarta) - Biak - Serui - Nabire - Wasior - Manokwari (Papua) - Wasior - Nabire - Serui - Biak - Tanjung Priok ( served by KM Caraka Jaya III - 22) and Route T 6 between Tanjung Priok - Kijang - Natuna (North Kalimantan) - Kijang - Tanjung Priok (served by KM Caraka Jaya III - 4).
On a separate occasion the director general of sea transportation Bobby R Mamahit said there would possibly be 13 sea toll road routes.
"In the future the number of routes will be increased up to 13, according to the minister," he said.
He said with better connectivity price disparity between the western and eastern regions would be smaller.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2016
