"The ships have been under construction since last year and they will be ready for operation in November, this year," Transport Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said here on Friday.
In addition, the Ministry will build another ships next year, Budi said.
He said the ships will be operated by the state-owned PT ASDP, which will also build another unit of ship.
"We also already received confirmation that there would be two more units of ship to be contributed by the private sector," the minister said.
The ships will have a big carrying capacity. They will operate in Lake Toba to serve the route between Tomok and Ajibata in Samosir.
"The ships measure 300 GT each with a carrying capacity of 280 passenger and 32 passenger cars and 17 truck, a much bigger capacity than those of the existing ferry ships in Lake Toba," he said.
The ships are to facilitate the transport of growing number of tourists visiting Lake Toba especially after the operation of the International Airport of Silangit in Siborong Borong , North Tapanuli.
Budi said the new ships would also facilitate the mobility of people from Samosir and guarantee better security in Lake Toba.
He said the ministry will also form a Technical Executive Unit to watch over anything needed for operation of the ships in Lake Toba.
"We have coordinated with the Indonesian Classification Bureau to supervise construction of the ships," he said.
Lake Toba is drawing the limelight with the disaster during the Ied ulFitr holidays when a motor boat sank with an estimated 200 people on board between Simandindo in Samosir and Tigaras,a port town in Simalungun mainland.
The authorities blamed the accident to overloading. The motorboat with a capacity of only 45 passengers was loaded with almost 200 passengers. It sank its way from Simanindo in Samosir under a bad weather to Tigaras only less than an hour away by boat.
There were less than 20 survivors in the accident and less than 10 bodied had been found and evacuated from the lake.
Currently a big rescue team is still searching for the missing passenger feared dead. (AS/a014)
(T.SYS/B/H-ASG/A014)
Reporter: antara
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
