The marine and fishery ministry (KKP) is important, therefore, it should remain a separate agency and must not be combined with other ministry, deputy chairman of Kadin in marine and fishery affairs Yugi Prayanto said.
"Merging KKP with other agency is feared to put a brake on the progress made in the development of the fishery and marine sector," Yugi said here on Wednesday.
He said the discourse about merging KKP with agriculture ministry into food sovereign ministry would be a wrong step.
"It would slow down development of the countrys marine and fishery potentials which are largely still untapped," he said.
He said there is a discourse about merging the two ministries to save a budget of Rp3.8 trillion.
"If the idea is to save budget we should see the economic potential of the sector," he said, pointing out potential income from the sector is as large as Rp255 trillion a year.
The potentials, however, are not yet fully a reality because the natural wealth is not yet fully developed, he said.
He said marine and fishery sector concerns not merely food aspect but also other aspects such as biotechnology, marine tourism, oil and gas reserves and sea transport as well as human resource development.
"So far the focuses of programs launched by the KKP has been on the right track with measured targets," he said.
He said merger between the KKP and other agency is feared to result in the loss of the focuses.
He noted that the budget for KKP is only one third of the budget for the ministry of agriculture meaning that development is more oriented to and relies more on shore resources in this worlds largest archipelago.
He pointed out that merger between KKP and other agency is not in line with the spirit to make the country a world maritime axis.
President elect Joko Widodo has a vision of and repeatedly talk about making Indonesia a world maritime axis.
(Uu.H-ASG/B003)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2014
