"There is some sort of a gap between Indonesias Eastern and Western sides, where the East is not receiving the best services possible. The vast area of land and the low income of the residents often result in goods with high price tags. They are also often hard to obtain that in some cases, people can go hungry," Sumadi said in a press release received here on Friday.
The majority of logistics in East Indonesia can only be delivered by air transportation, as there are about 250 airports scattered in different areas of Papua, through which logistic supplies can be distributed, he added.
"Looking at the current situation, we will continue to make serious efforts to improve the logistic flow in the Eastern region. The ministry is also working to come up with a solution to solve the issue of connectivity in logistic supply not only to the Western zone but also to the Eastern territory," he stated.
He further said that there will also be few plans lined up to improve East Indonesias logistic flow.
The ministry has also called on the Indonesian National Air-Carriers Association (INACA) and the Indonesian National Ship Owners Association (INSA) to take efforts to solve the issue of logistics flow in East Indonesia.
Sumadi stated that in 2017, private entities will also be involved in marine highway projects, for which tenders have already started coming in and the subsidy will be about Rp200 billion.
"In January 2017, we will start the projects in three areas, namely West Sumatra, East Kalimantan and Maluku. These projects will improve the roles of private and public organizations in the marine highway program," he revealed.
He also said that he will evaluate the routes, increase occupancy levels, improve the quality of goods and involve more private institutions to be in line with the efforts to improve logistic flow.
He expressed hopes that the logistics will then be distributed evenly to all the areas in the Eastern part of the country, including regions surrounded by mountains like Mulia and Ilaga, through air tolls and rivers routes.
"There will also be new flight routes around the Papua territory, which are established to distribute supplies to areas that are harder to reach by means of land transportation. We are also considering the use of rivers routes to boost the distribution of goods in Papua," he reiterated.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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