Indonesia And India Plan To Develop Sabang Port

Document - A view of the Sabang port area (ANTARA FOTO/Irwansyah Putra)

BANDA ACEH - The Indonesian government together with India through the Consulate of the Indian Embassy in Medan will soon develop the port of Sabang, Aceh, and other infrastructure in the island region.

"Development of maritime connectivity and investment in the outermost areas is President Joko Widodo's priority in his second term, including in Aceh," said Acting Assistant Deputy for Infrastructure Connectivity at the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Dr Lukijanto in his statement quoted by Antara, Thursday, March 17.

This was conveyed by Dr Lukijanto when opening a coordination meeting of the Join Working Grub (JWG) with the Sabang Area Concession Agency (BPKS) regarding the cooperation plan for the development of the Sabang port area and infrastructure.

This collaboration between the Government of Indonesia and the Government of India is part of the activities of the joint task force for connectivity between Aceh and the Andaman-Nicobar islands.

Lukijanto said the encouragement for the development of ports and other infrastructure in Sabang by the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries is because the area has potential geographically, especially in the perspective of Andaman (India) and Aceh (Indonesia) connectivity.

"Trade and other economic activities between the Andaman-Aceh authorities as well as G to G and B to B cooperation can benefit from the development of the Sabang port," he said.

Meanwhile, the Head of BPKS Iskandar Zulkarnain said that this collaboration could have a positive impact on the development of the Sabang area and encourage the improvement of the community's economy from various sectors.

"This cooperation is expected to be able to improve the people's economy in general and encourage the development of regional areas and port infrastructure," he said.

Zulkarnain said that another plan in the form of cooperation between ports, namely the ports of Sabang and Port Blair, is expected to become sister ports that will benefit both countries economically.

The results of this JWG activity, said Zulkarnain, the Indian team will work directly from Sabang with the BPKS team in the preparation of the FS/Detailed project report for its development.

In line with that, the Ministry of Transportation through the Directorate of Navigation will conduct a feasibility study, risk assessment, cost benefit of VTS Sabang, including a Sea Land of Sabang flow study for the 2022 fiscal year.

He said that the cooperation between Indonesia and India was a follow-up to the 2018 meeting of President Joko Widodo and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding a shared maritime vision in the Indo-Pacific (Statement on Shared Vision on Maritime Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific).

The shared vision, continued Zulkarnain, emphasizes the importance of increasing prosperity in the region, through the development of economic connectivity based on universal norms, international law, transparency, and mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity.

"In this regard, the two heads of state agreed to take concrete steps to improve connectivity between Andaman and Nicobar and the provinces on the island of Sumatra, in order to encourage trade, tourism and people to people contacts, as well as facilitate business relations between the two," said Zulkarnain.