SOE Ministry Seeking Foreign Investors To Manage Soetta And Ngurah Rai Airports

JAKARTA - The Ministry of BUMN will look for new investors to manage Soekarno-Hata International Airport (Soetta) and Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport, Bali.

Deputy Minister of BUMN II, Kartika Wirjoatmodjo said that later the management of Soetta and Ngurah Rai Airports would be collaborated with Angkasa Pura I (Persero) and Angkasa Pura II (Persero).

Tiko, Kartika's nickname, explained that this plan required permission from the government first. However, Tiko admitted that his party was indeed planning to carry out several corporate actions for the airport.

"We want to push it, but we still have to get permission from the previous order, for cooperation in Soekarno Hatta and Ngurah Rai," he told journalists, written on Wednesday, February 15.

Tiko said this step was a strategic partnership to raise the status of Soetta and Ngurah Rai Airports as international airports that were included in the list of the top five best airports in Asia.

"We want Soetta and Ngurah Rai not to be inferior to Changi Airport, Incheon in South Korea, and so on," he said.

The plan is still in the discussion stage between the Ministry of SOEs and PT Aviasi Wisata Indonesia (Persero) or InJourney. Because of this, there has been no decision on which foreign investors to target.

"We plan to have cooperation (with outside investors). But indeed there has been no decision on which foreign investors, we have not announced it beforehand," he said.

Tiko said, until now the plan is still in the discussion stage between the Ministry of SOEs and PT Aviasi Pariwisata Indonesia (Persero) or InJourney to find a scheme or model of cooperation.

Later, said Tiko, investors who join must be able to increase the capacity and quality of the two airports.

Furthermore, Tiko ensured that after the discussion and cooperation scheme was finalized, it would announce the foreign investors who would manage it after obtaining permission from the government.

"It is possible that we will announce it after obtaining permission from the government," he said.