PT Hutchison Ports Indonesia (HPI) will invest US$100 million in the expansion of the Jakarta International Container Terminal (JICT) in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta.
“In order to realize the country’s potential as an economic powerhouse in the region, a large and efficient hub port needs to be developed,” said Stephen Ashworth, chief executive of Hutchison Ports Indonesia, in a report by The Jakarta Globe.
The expansion plan is part of an agreement inked between the company, a subsidiary of global port operator Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH), and Indonesian state port operator PT Pelabuhan Indonesia (Pelindo) II in 1999, reported The Jakarta Post.
In the expansion plan, JICT, whose major shareholders are HPH and Pelindo II, will build an entry gate complex as a joint facility with the Koja Container Terminal to control the trucks coming in and out of the terminal.
With the investment, container volume handled by JICT is expected to rise to 2.8 million TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) annually over the next three years from 2.3 million TEUs in 2011.
Meanwhile, throughput at the Koja terminal is seen to grow to 1 million TEUs from 800,000 last year.
One obstacle to the expansion project is the existence of a burial site that blocks the connection to the Jakarta Outer Ring Road highway, which is expected to ease congestion once completed.
“If we can resolve that, we will have not only an entry gate complex but also more land, and we can do many things there,” said Ashworth.
Photo: photohome_uk
