Provincial Government Completes Data Supporting Juwata Airport Status Recovery

DOC. Governor of Kaltara Zainal A Paliwang took a photo with Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi

TANJUNG SELOR - Governor of North Kalimantan (Kaltara) Zainal A Paliwang continues to strive to propose the status of Juwata Tarakan Airport again as an international airport.

Based on the Decree of the Minister Number 31/2024 (KM 31/2004) concerning the Determination of International Airport on April 2, 2024, one of them is Juwata Tarakan Airport.

"As is known, as many as 17 international airports have been revoked to become domestic airports, one of which is Tarakan's Juata airport," said Governor Zainal, Monday, August 5.

"My hope is that this can be reviewed, because Kaltara is a gateway, an Indonesian storefront that directly borders neighboring countries," he continued.

The governor assessed that the status of Juwata Tarakan Airport is very important by becoming an international airport because it borders other countries and also as the front gate for the capital city of the archipelago (IKN).

"Moreover, Kaltara is bordered by Malaysia and Philipina," he said.

Meanwhile, the Acting Head of the North Kalimantan Transportation Service, Andi Nasuha, explained that his party had coordinated with the Ministry of Transportation to explain the status of Juwata Tarakan Airport.

"One of the main points is the geographical location of Tarakan City as the entrance to Kaltara, both from Indonesia and Sabah, Malaysia. The governor and I have met with the Minister of Transportation and explained the status of this airport that we are one group between Malaysia and Indonesia, having a historical relationship," he said.

Andi Nasuha explained, from the Ministry of Transportation, it was said that the status of international airports could be reopened by attaching evidence of the demand for international passengers both to Tarakan City and vice versa.

"From the Ministry of Transportation, it is said that the status of international airports can be opened by attaching evidence of passenger demand from Tawau to Tarakan, Tarakan flies to Tawau and Kota Kinabalu Malaysia," he explained.

Following up on the request of the Ministry of Transportation, Andi revealed that currently the Kaltara Transportation Agency and related agencies are collecting and fulfilling demand data. Demand data is related to the entry of tourists and foreign workers to the province of Kaltara.

Most recently, the Kaltara Transportation Agency has also written with Number 500.11/333/Dishub-Set/V/2024, regarding the Request for Data to Support the Recovery of the Status of Juwata Tarakan Airport. "The provincial government is very trying to complete all the demand data, then the data will be submitted to the Ministry of Transportation," he said.

To support this, some time ago the Governor of Kaltara also made a working visit to Tawau Malaysia, from the visit, it was confirmed that the Malaysian state was ready to open flight routes to Tarakan.

Despite its domestic airport status, Andi Nasuha ensured that Juwata Tarakan Airport could still serve unscheduled international route flights such as charters, medical evacuation or other temporary flights. This can be done while still applying for permission from the relevant ministries, namely the Ministry of Transportation and the Ministry of Defense.