Add Tourism Value On The Island Of The Gods, Pelindo Kembangkan Benoa Port Becomes Bali Maritime Tourism Hub

PT Pelabuhan Indonesia (Pelindo) continues to develop the Benoa Port into a Bali Maritime Tourism Hub in order to provide added value for tourism on the Island of the Gods.

"The Barong Fish Statue (Lion Fish) in North Mandala as high as 32 meters welcomes anyone entering the Benoa Harbor area, Denpasar from the direction of the gate or from the Mandara Toll Road," said Pelindo Corporate Secretariat Group Head Ali Mulyono, quoted from Antara, Monday 2 December.

Ali explained that the statue, which was designed by I Wayan Kastawan and built by I Wayan Winten, is a new marker of the Benoa Port which is being transformed by Pelindo into a Bali Maritime Tourism Hub (BMTH).

BMTH is one of the national strategic projects set out based on Presidential Regulation Number 109 of 2020 concerning the Third Amendment to Presidential Regulation Number 3 of 2016 concerning Acceleration of Implementation of National Strategic Projects.

Currently in Benoa there are fish ports, liquid bulk terminals and LNG (Liquified Natural Gas), marine for yachts, as well as piers and terminals for passengers of tourist boats.

He conveyed that the development of BMTH Ultimate will organize the Benoa Port into Two Zones, namely Basic Facilities Zones such as Terminal Zones, Container Zones and General Cargo, Marina/Tourism Zones, Liquid and Gas Curs Zones, and Passenger Terminal Zones. As well as Support Facilities Zones, namely Logistic Zones, Port Associate Industry Zones (PAI), Government Zones, and others.

Furthermore, the Fisheries Pier will be reorganized into the PAI Zone, as well as the tourist boat dock to be extended and the depth of the pond is deepened to -12 meters lws with the aim of being able to accommodate larger ships and expanded terminals for international passengers.

As a tourist attraction, in the Benoa Port area, the Tourism Zone arrangement has been carried out and three statues have been built that have their respective philosophy.

The first statue, the Barong Fish Statue in North Mandala with the concept of Tri Angga. The second statue is the Catur Muka Statue as a symbol of Dewa Brahmana which has four faces and faces four winds.

The third statue is the Cupu Statue of Tirta Amerta with a philosophy that is the culmination of the journey to the Dewa Baruna Palace to look for Tirta Amertha or the Holy Water of Life.

In addition, Pelindo also built an MSME Plaza. This pavilion-shaped building will accommodate souvenir items made by MSMEs.

Then the existing port area is a BMTH development area that has partially been completed in 2019-2022 and its passenger terminal has been expanded, with a capacity of 3,000 people from the previous thousand people. The east pier which has a length of 340 meters is being added to 160 meters.

The depth of the labuh pool (draft) will also be deepened from the current minus 9 meters to minus 12 meters in order to accommodate large tourist ships. Queen Elizabeth's ship, which weighs 92,000 GT and has a draft 8 meters, for example, requires sufficient depth so it doesn't run aground.

"The progress of the extension of the east dock is 91.2 percent. The dredging of the flow and the Benoa Harbor pool is also being worked on," said Ali.

Ali further said that Pelindo is also in the process of relocating the liquid bulk terminal and LNG operated by its subsidiary, PT Pelindo Energi Logistik, at the south dock to the northern area.

He added that the development of BMTH as an integrated tourism area provides all tourism needs, ranging from accommodation, entertainment, to souvenirs, so that it is hoped that there will be more foreign tourists.

"Another goal is to extend the average length of stay of foreign tourists entering through Benoa. The longer the clothing ship will bring greater benefits," said Ali.