We will move it eastward. We are still looking for a new location."Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The government has cancelled the decision to construct Cilamaya port in Karawang district, West Java province, and is planning to move the planned port eastward.
"We will move it eastward. We are still looking for a new location," Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs Indroyono Susilo said here at a press conference on Thursday.
Indroyono noted that the plan to shift the port eastward has been made to find clear shipping lanes for vessels as Cilamaya waters is dotted with offshore platforms.
"We have to find a ten-kilometer-wide corridor through which vessels can move safely. Its not merely about oil and gas pipes," Indroyono stated.
There are some 80 offshore platforms in Cilamaya waters and 223 platforms in northwest Java waters.
Therefore, the government needs to find a clear shipping lane for traveling vessels "to prevent any incident of collision (with the platform)," the minister explained.
The government had planned Cilamaya port to reduce congestion in Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta.
On Thursday Morning, Indroyono visited the location for the proposed port in Cilamaya subdistrict, Karawang district, with Vice-President Jusuf Kalla, Minister of Transportation Ignasius Jonan and Head of the National Development Planning Board Andrinof Chaniago.
Also Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Sudirman Said, Deputy Governor of West Java Deddy Mizwar, and acting District Head of Karawang Cellica Nurrachadiana.
Following a meeting at Tanjungjaya village chiefs office, top government officials decided to cancel the Cilamaya port construction plan.
A new feasibility study will be conducted. Minister Indroyono remarked that the government aims to finish the port construction by 2020.
(T.A059/Uu.INE/KR-BSR/A014)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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