KKP Says Sea Cable Owners Are Still Found Not Complying With The Rules

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) revealed that there is still an initiator of a submarine cable communication system (SKKL) that has not complied with applicable regulations, thus threatening the sustainability of cable operations and could disrupt ecosystem sustainability.

"Settings are intended so that the deployment of pipes and cables can be in line with spatial planning or zoning plans. However, in its implementation, there are various obstacles, both natural and technical factors. For this reason, further studies are needed, so that the deployment of pipes and cables is carried out without violating the applicable regulations," said the Director General of Marine and Fishery Resources Supervision (PSDKP) of the KKP Pung Nugroho Saksono as reported by ANTARA, Wednesday, July 17.

The SKKL is regulated in the Decree of the Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Number 14 of 2021 concerning Pipelines and/or Underwater Cables.

It contains maps and coordinates lists of 43 segments of Underwater Pipe Lanes, 217 segments of Underwater Cable Lanes, and 209 Beach Main Hole (BMH), including four designated landing stations, namely Batam, Kupang, Manado, and Jayapura.

The regulation also requires SKKL initiators to take care of basic permits, namely the Approval of the Compliance of Marine Spatial Utilization Activities (PKKPRL) when they are going to hold performances in the sea space and are required to submit annual reports as part of regulatory control and supervision.

Special Assistant to the Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries for Media and Public Communication, Doni Ismanto, added that his party found that there were still many SKKL owners who had not met the rules, including deploying cables without PKKPRL or holding outside the coordinates that had been set at PKKPRL.

"Of the approximately 22 PKKPRL issued by the KKP for SKKL activities during the 2021-2024 period, there were five violations. If it is percentageed, around 22 percent of the level of violations is quite high, so it is necessary to increase compliance from the initiators to commitments at PKKPRL," said Doni.

Currently, he continued, the KKP is considering an assessment for every prospective initiator who will apply for PKKPRL for SKKL with one of the assessments is compliance with regulations.

"For example, we give green, yellow, red labels. If it is red, it means that prospective initiators have a track record of often non-compliant and must be watched out for in granting permits," he said.

The reason the government regulates the implementation of SKKL is so that there are no overlapping interests due to the large number of activities in the sea space.

This is because the cables that are held outside the provisions have the potential to be damaged, for example, affected by the ship's anchor and others.

In addition, it is feared that cable deployment will cross conservation areas without permission that could disrupt ecosystem sustainability.

He reminded that the huge potential for SKKL from abroad is to utilize Indonesian waters as geopolitical relations between the United States (US) and China heat up because the South China Sea is not easily passed.

"We as a country see this opportunity, by maintaining domestic interests that require SKKL owners from abroad to partner with local cable operators and require landing stations according to regulations. The presence of landing stations technically and digital sovereignty is of higher value than landing points, we enforce this by implementing Kepmen KP No14/21," he concluded.