Indonesia kicks off largest port project

Indonesian has started building its largest sea port for industry in Jakarta as an effort to boost the country's infrastructure, local press reported Saturday. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Friday led the ground breaking ceremony marking the start of 2.47 billion U.S. dollar seaport project in Kalibaru, north of Jakarta, the Jakarta Post said. The port with a capacity of handling 13 million 20-foot containers, was crucial to remove logistic bottlenecks in the country, President Yudhoyono said. "Every infrastructure project whether it is a road, airport or port such as Kalibaru or the New Priok Port that begins ( construction) today, is very important because it will further boost Indonesia's economy. Thus, this will improve our competitiveness in the world,"said Yudhoynono. State run port firm Pelindo II, also known as the Indonesian Port Corporation (IPC), will construct the port in three phases. In the first phase, the firm will construct three container terminals with a total capacity of 4.5 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) and two fuel berths that are expected to be completed by the end of 2017. Each terminal will have a draft of 16 meters, allowing a container ship with a capacity of up to 8,000 TEUs to dock. Kalibaru initially began as part of a plan to expand Tanjung Priok Port through the construction of new terminals that would have a capacity of 1.9 million TEUs. But as part of the Master Plan for the Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesian Economic Growth (MP3EI), the government decided to expand the terminals into a port and appointed the IPC as the sole project developer.