Regarding The Addition Of The Pier On The Merak-Bakauheni Cross, The Ministry Of Transportation: That's Definitely It, It's Been Discussed At The Meeting

Director General of Land Transportation of the Ministry of Transportation Hendro Sugiatno (left), General Chairperson of the Gapasdap Central Leadership Council (DPP) Khoiri Soetomo (right) was interviewed by media crews in Jakarta, Wednesday night (8/5/2024). (Doc. ANTARA)

JAKARTA - To anticipate the potential for congestion and density of passengers that often occur, especially during the Eid holiday transportation period, the Ministry of Transportation (Kemenhub) ensures that there is an addition of a new dock at the Merak-Bakauheni Port crossing.

"So we will definitely add pedestrian infrastructure (at Merak Port), before entering the port we will build a buffer zone to accommodate, at the port we will expand the port capacity area and will add a dock," said Director General of Land Transportation of the Ministry of Transportation Hendro Sugiatno in Jakarta, Wednesday night, as reported by ANTARA, Thursday, May 9.

Hendro said that the plan to build a dock in Merak-Bakauheni had been discussed in a limited meeting (ratas) chaired by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi).

"So we evaluated yesterday's Eid al-Fitr 2024 yesterday. It has been discussed and it has also been conveyed at the meeting, PUPR plans to develop together with PT ASDP and the Ministry of Transportation," said Hendro.

According to Hendro, it is possible that two and three piers will be built. However, he did not specify how many piers the government would build to support the smooth transportation at the Merak Port crossing.

Even so, Hendro admitted that the dock at the port would be sought to be built before the Eid 2025 transportation period.

"(The number) we don't know yet, but what is clear is... two or three maybe there is (the construction of the dock), we will add that (the Merak-Bakauheni match)," said Hendro.

In addition to building a dock, Hendro said that the Ministry of PUPR together with the Ministry of Transportation and other related parties would also extend the toll road to enter Merak Port, including building a larger circular road.

According to him, this is the government's commitment to create smooth transportation, especially the crossing at Merak-Bakauheni Port, because during the Eid 2024 transportation period in Merak there was a long traffic jam of up to 19 kilometers (km), so this became an important note.

"This is a challenge and we have thought about it. Hopefully next year we will build a rest area for buffer zones at KM 97 so that we can accommodate travelers so that we can reduce congestion," said Hendro.

Previously, the National Entrepreneurs Association for River, Lake, and Crossing (Gapasdap) hoped that the government would build a new dock on the Merak-Bakauheni crossing route to prevent queues and other passenger densities at the moment of Eid homecoming.

"Gapasdap once again asks the government and those assigned, namely PT ASDP Indonesia Ferry, to immediately increase the number of piers at the Merak-Bakauheni crossing and other strategic commercial tracks," said Gapasdap Central Leadership Council (DPP) Chairman Khoiri Soetomo at the Gapasdap 48th Anniversary Peak Night event in Jakarta, Wednesday.

According to Soetomo, the addition of a dock is important in order to anticipate the operation of ships that have an operating permit on the track. Moreover, the utility of ships operating is only in the range of 30 to 40 percent in one month.

Currently, the number of ships that are off is waiting for their turn to operate more than the number of ships operating.