Port Of Imported Goods Wants To Be Moved, Trade Minister: Almost Agrees But Wait For Jokowi's Blessing

Port of imported goods (between)

JAKARTA - The government has determined the port to be used as an import entrance. There are six ports that have been chosen as options to replace Tanjung Priok and Tanjung Perak ports.

Trade Minister Zulkifli Hasan revealed that the plan to move the port had almost been agreed across ministries, both the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs (Kemenkop UKM).

"We have had a meeting between ministries and have almost agreed that the Minister of Cooperatives, the Minister of Industry, should not pile up in Priok and Tanjung Perak Surabaya," he said at the DPR Building, Parliament Complex, Wednesday, September 4.

The man who is familiarly called Zulhas said the replacement port is located in Central Java, North Sumatra, Riau Islands, North Sulawesi, South Sulawesi to Southwest Papua.

"There is Semarang, there is Central Java, there is Sumatra later maybe in Belawan or in Batam, then there is another Bitung port as well as an international port there is also Makassar there is also Sorong," he said.

However, Zulhas said that the plan to move the port of import goods entrance was still waiting for a limited meeting chaired by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi).

"Of course, later when things like that have to be flat," he said.

Even so, Zulhas said that the transfer of import ports would ease the burden on Tanjung Priok Port in DKI Jakarta and also Tanjung Perak Port in East Java.

Zulhas said the two ports that were the mainstay were already overcapacity. So, the supervision can be carried out even tighter.

"If it's really difficult to control it because it's overcapacity, then it can be arranged," he said.

Previously, it was reported that the Minister of Trade (Mendag) Zulkifli Hasan proposed the transfer of the port of import goods entrance outside Java. The purpose of this transfer is to unravel the congestion at the ports of Java Island.

The man who is familiarly called Zulhas said the transfer mainly targeted seven imported commodities. Among them, Textiles and textile products (TPT), Jadi Clothing, Ceramics, Electronics, Beauty or cosmetics, Textile goods are finished, and Footwear.

"This seven years, if there is an overcapacity here in Java, then as good as these seven items, the imports will enter through ports outside Java," he said.

"There are a lot of them, outside Java is where, there is Makassar, there is Bitung, there is Sorong, many of our entrances are not only Java, there are Sumatra and others," he continued.

Meanwhile, Minister of Industry Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita admitted that she agreed with the plan of the Minister of Trade Zulhas. He admitted that he had conducted internal discussions about this matter.

"The second one was about the port, that's a very good suggestion that the Minister submitted to me. Of course, it is actually something that we discussed internally and we also support 100 percent," he said.