Ciwandan Port Will Function For Motorbike Travelers

Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture (Menko PMK) Muhadjir Effendy said Ciwandan Port, Cilegon City, Banten, will be used again for the homecoming flow of Ramadan 1445 H, especially for motorcycle users.

"We will continue to function CIwan and then there will be additional piers in Merak, an additional dock, only later the entrance will be different so that it will not experience a bottleneck when entering the port," said Muhadjir as quoted by ANTARA, Wednesday, March 13.

He emphasized that the discourse on the Port of Ciwandan which will be re-functioned still needs to see the conditions at Merak Port.

"We'll see the conditions, if it's enough in Merak, we'll use it in Merak," he said.

Muhadjir also explained that the handling of homecoming during the month of Ramadan in 2024 is not much different from the previous one in 2023.

"In one or two days I will coordinate with the ministry, especially those related to the Ministry of Transportation and the TNI and Polri to ensure, hopefully the handling of this year's homecoming will not be different from last year's, where the level of public satisfaction is quite large, up to 90 percent," he said.

The Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture also said that the number of travelers this year could be ascertained to be much greater than last year, considering that after the COVID-19 pandemic, there were no more restrictions.

"The estimated spike is not certain, but usually the average is above 25 percent," he said.

From last year's evaluation, there was still a bit of traffic jam on the route to Merak, so the government will accelerate the construction of a rest area at kilometer 97.

"We are accelerating the construction of another rest area at kilometer 97, if it is not finished later, we will look for another alternative," he said.

Meanwhile, for the direction of Cikampek, Muhadjir said that the flow was monitored to be safe.

"It's easy (Cikampek direction), hopefully there won't be any problems, especially now that the route has been added to six lanes, so yesterday we can overcome the congestion due to the spill from Bandung with an additional route," said Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Muhadjir Effendy.