Minister of Transportation (Menhub) Dudy Purwagandhi stated that the reactivation of Husein Sastranegara Airport in Bandung City, West Java, requires an active role from the local government.
"What we hope is that the local government itself must talk, we must discuss it," said the Minister of Transportation in a talk with the media crew in Jakarta, quoted Friday, June 27.
Dudy emphasized that the reactivation of Husein Sastranegara Airport must consider aspects of regulation and the importance of optimizing Kertajati Airport which has been built with large funds.
According to him, the construction of Kertajati Airport in Majalengka Regency also needs to be maximized so that state investments do not become in vain and redundant in the long term.
He said that reactivating Husein Sastranegara Airport needs to be studied together by taking into account the applicable rules and involving relevant stakeholders comprehensively and transparently.
Dudy emphasized that optimizing airports is not only the responsibility of the central government, but must be a joint agenda with local governments and air transportation business actors.
Kertajati Airport, he said, could not be separated from the support of local governments from the planning stage to the implementation of development involving various resources and joint commitments.
Therefore, his party encourages local governments to actively discuss, including the Bandung City Government and the West Java Provincial Government, to formulate the best steps in managing the two airports.
The central government, he continued, remains committed to ensuring that Kertajati Airport can operate optimally to support regional connectivity and accelerate economic growth in the surrounding area.
The Minister of Transportation hopes that decisions related to Husein Airport will be made wisely so as not to harm national long-term interests in the development of air transportation based on efficiency and sustainability.
"Because after all, the existence of Kertajati Airport cannot be separated from local governments as well as during planning and during construction," he said.
"So in this optimization, we also hope that not only us, but also from the Regional Government (Bandung) of course and aviation business actors to be able to optimize Kertajati airport," said the Minister of Transportation.
Previously, the Mayor of Bandung Muhammad Farhan asked the central government to immediately reactivate Husein Sastranegara Airport.
He said the airport's reactivation was a strategic step to revive the tourism sector and the Greater Bandung economy and its surroundings.
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If Husein is opened, Bandung tourism will move again. The impact is not only for Bandung, but also West Java," said Farhan in West Bandung, Thursday (12/6).
He assessed that the reactivation of Husein Airport could help ease the financial burden of the West Java Provincial Government due to the high operational costs of Kertajati Airport which had not been comparable to the results.
Farhan added that many tourists still choose to fly through Halim Perdanakusuma Airport, Jakarta, compared to using Kertajati Airport, so that economic value flows to Jakarta.
"In fact, people still want to come to Bandung. But because Husein was closed, they landed in Jakarta. Who's the luck? To Jakarta, not West Java," he said.
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