TRANSPORTATION – The government’s enthusiasm to build several toll roads in several regions could become a time bomb for traffic problems, if not balanced with the addition of Ferry Piers. It is feared that the queues at several piers will increase due to the increase in the number of vehicles that are stuck.
The General Chairperson of the National Association of River, Lake and Ferry Transportation Entrepreneurs (Gapasdap) Khoiri Utomo said that the role of sea and river transportation in Indonesia is very important because it functions to connect the island regions of around 17 thousand, so the construction of adequate ferry piers is very important.
“Currently our ferry facilities (in Indonesia-ed) are inadequate. In terms of quantity, they are very lacking, so that every Eid al-Fitr, Christmas, New Year and Long Holidays there are always long queues. No matter how we use any calculator, if there are no sufficient piers, this is useless. ” said Khoiri on the sidelines of the 3rd Gapasdap National Working Meeting which took place at the Marriot Hotel Yogyakarta, Wednesday (11/9/2024).
Khoiri added that the construction of the additional pier was urgently needed so that when needed later it could serve the needs of the community. Based on his calculations, the construction of one pier requires a budget of around 200 M. He considered this amount to be much smaller than the government’s budget provision to finance the free lunch budget. Meanwhile, land issues or other reasons can technically be resolved with existing modern technology.
Khoiri believes that if the government led by Prabowo-Gibran later pays special attention to this problem. Then the targeted economic growth of 8 percent will be easier to achieve.
Regarding IKN Transportation, Khoiri admitted that his party was asked for their readiness to participate in supporting the smooth running of transportation in the IKN, especially those related to crossings at sea and rivers. However, it is required to use environmentally friendly vehicles.
“If we talk about environmentally friendly water transportation, then if we refer to the type of transportation in European countries, there are already boats that use electric power, so that ferry boats no longer use fossil fuels. For that, there needs to be infrastructure prepared by the government first, before the environmentally friendly ferry boats are operated. However, if we look at the current conditions, it seems that it is still too far away. The technology that is most likely to be practiced in the near future is the conversion of fuel from diesel to gas. “said Khoiri.
Met separately, the Director General of Land Transportation, Ministry of Transportation of the Republic of Indonesia, Inspector General of Police. Risyapudin Nursin said that until now Gapasdab has provided many conveniences to the community in order to increase mobility which has an impact on improving the economy. For that, in the future there needs to be special discussions so that river and sea transportation can run even better.
“Our desire is that this service will be technology-based, so that land and ferry transportation modes can be easily accessed by the community. “said Risyapudin.
Meanwhile, related to the readiness of the Ministry of Transportation in supporting the development of the IKN, Risyapudin revealed that currently being studied is the technology for crossing transportation that can be faster than existing transportation.
For that, in order to prepare the preparation of the development program related to crossing transportation, the Ministry of Transportation is waiting for input from Gapasdab regarding the technology that is most possible to be applied to support the development of the IKN. (*/)
