French Investors Interested In Building Ports In Bintan

TANJUNGPINANG - A construction company from French countries "Eiffage" is interested in investing in building a land port in the East Bintan District, Bintan Regency, Riau Islands (Kepri).

A member of the Riau Islands Provincial DPRD, Wahyu Wahyudin, said that the land port is planned to be built on an empty area of 37 hectares belonging to PT Take Gunung Kijang as a partner who is right on the oceanside.

"Usually the port is built on the sea, but this time it is on the mainland. So, the land will be excavated into a pond, then a port will be built on it," Wahyudin said while accompanying French investors in Tanjungpinang City as reported by ANTARA, Wednesday, May 10.

According to him, the port will become an international hub port, for large container ships from various countries in the world in the future to transit there.

He is optimistic that the existence of the port can spur the economic growth of the Riau Islands Province, because there are many business derivatives that can be worked on from the port sector.

"One of them is anchoring, because overseas ships will dock in the waters around," said Wahyudin.

He stated that he was ready to assist in the process of obtaining the port investment permit in East Bintan District, so that it would be easier and accelerated by the government, both at the provincial and central levels.

"In this year, the focus is on completing the permit first, then the port construction will be continued, possibly in 2024," he said.

Meanwhile, the Director of Commercial Energies Et Industries Effifage Genie Civil Marine, Guillaume Roche, conveyed the reason for building a port in Bintan Regency, because it borders the neighboring country of Singapore, which incidentally has the busiest port in the world.

According to him, currently the condition of the port in Singapore has exceeded capacity so that the queues of ships there can reach two to three days.

Therefore, it is necessary to option the option of building a new port to take business opportunities in terms of the ship queues in the neighboring country.

"East Bintan District is the most potential location for international ports to be built," he said.

According to him, the total port investment in East Bintan District ranges from Rp700 billion to Rp1 trillion.

Guilleum Roche accompanied by Directoreur Pays & Assciee Senior Leny Maryouri, Legislator Wahyu Wahyudin, CEO of the Takke Groupmen M Takke, and the ranks of the Riau Islands Provincial government have also visited and directly checked the location of the port construction, Wednesday afternoon.

After that, said Guillaume, his company will discuss with international operators regarding port designs to be built, as they know better.

The operator in question is still in the selection stage, because they will be Eiffage partners in terms of port management in East Bintan District.

"We (Eiffage) will do physical work, once the port design is approved by the operator," he said.

He hopes for the support of the local government so that it can make it easier and speed up the licensing process for port construction in East Bintan District.

In addition, his party emphasized that Eiffage, which brought European standard investments to Bintan Island, really respects social, cultural and environmental issues.

He also ensured that the existence of the port would have a double effect on the regional economy, including in terms of empowering local wisdom.

"Hopefully there will be no disturbances such as social conflict or environmental damage that could hinder our investment here," he added.

Meanwhile, Eiffage has built around 400 world-class ports ranging from Latin America, Australia, Europe, to Africa.