Do it seriously to bring direct benefits to the people
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi continues to encourage service digitization in the sea transportation sector to boost productivity and accelerate services to provide ease of investment for business owners.

"I urge all levels of the Directorate General of Sea Transportation to consistently conduct digitalization. Do it seriously to bring direct benefits to the people," he stated at the opening of the Technical Coordination Meeting for Traffic and Sea Transportation in Jakarta, Wednesday.

Sumadi noted that the process of digitization services can be conducted in the form of tariff equalization, passenger standards, loading and unloading activities, and others, to continue the implementation of the Sea Toll Program.

"I hope we have a dashboard to monitor the ship's movement along with the manifest and time estimation for loading and unloading at the port. Notes from the captain must be received quickly to provide fast repairs," he added.

Furthermore, Sumadi accentuated the importance of coordination between stakeholders to support pioneering sea transportation connectivity.

The minister encouraged the Port Authority Office (KOP) and Port Administration Unit Office (KUPP) in the regions to provide an evaluation regarding route connectivity that have not been served by the private sector.

"The occupancy rate through sea pioneering transportation is not optimal. We must proactively coordinate with various relevant stakeholders to solve this," he remarked.

The minister vouched to continue to optimize the Sea Toll Program, especially for routes that had yet to attract business owners to be present to serve.

"In future, we will simplify the auction and tender process for this maritime and pioneer highway. We want to open the competition as wide as possible to avoid conflict of interest in the tender," he stated.

The coordination meeting was also attended by representatives from the World Bank; the Ministry of Economy; the Ministry of Trade; the Ministry of Micro, Small, Medium Enterprises (MSMEs); and business actors in the shipping sector.

Related news: Task force needed to strengthen Indonesian sea toll project initiation
Related news: Sea toll road should be optimized to support distribution of goods
Related news: Ministry allocates Rp1.59 trillion to support sea toll program

Translator: Adimas Raditya F P, Resinta S
Editor: Sri Haryati
Copyright © ANTARA 2022