Coordinating Minister Airlangga's Subordinates Say The Presence Of North Bali Airport Remains A National Need

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

Coordinating Minister Airlangga's subordinates say the presence of North Bali Airport remains a necessity

JAKARTA - Deputy for Coordination of Regional Development and Spatial Planning of the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs Wahyu Utomo assesses that the presence of an international airport in North Bali remains a national need, even though it has been removed from the list of National Strategic Projects (PSN).

"It does not mean that the project will not be carried out, but that the pace will be different. Because there are many problems that require greater effort so that in 2024 (it is predicted) it will not be completed," Wahyu said in Jakarta, Sunday.

He said the new airport project in northern Bali was included in the Airport Master Plan which was stipulated in the Decree of the Minister of Transportation of the Republic of Indonesia No. 166/2019 concerning the National Airport Order.

One of the reasons is that Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar currently only has one runway and cannot develop anymore due to land issues, so if something happens at the airport, Bali's air access is also practically closed.

In fact, Bali is a tourist destination as well as a place for holding MICE, including high-level conferences, which if the airport experiences problems such as due to the volcanic ash of Mount Agung in 2017 and 2018, regular flights must be temporarily closed.

In addition, the capacity of the airport, which is located in the south of Bali, can only accommodate 24 million passengers per year, with maximum development of only up to 32 million passengers per year, so that service in 2026 is estimated to reach its peak.

Previously, the initiator of North Bali Airport, PT BIBU Panji Sakti, revealed the advantages of constructing a new international airport in North Bali, including that it does not require a large area of land.

President Director of PT BIBU Erwanto Sad Adiatmoko said that his party had conducted studies in eight different places on the island of Bali to find the ideal place to build an airport.

"The results of the location study with the best score were on the coast (offshore) of Kubuaddan, Buleleng. This means that the area is ideal as a place to build an international airport from various social, economic, technical, and environmental aspects," said Erwanto.

Erwanto explained that the construction of North Bali International Airport initiated by PT BIBU did not carry out land acquisition because the airport will be built on the coast of Kubuaddan Beach.

According to him, the construction of the airport on the coast will not sacrifice productive land, will not take community residential land, will not displace places of worship, and will also not sacrifice historical sites in Buleleng Regency.

He explained that PT BIBU's proposal was in accordance with the Regulation of the Minister of Transportation/PM No. 20/2014 and PM No. 64/2018 Regarding Procedures and Procedures for Determining Airport Locations, so it is predicted that it will not cause social unrest because there are no problems in land acquisition.

In addition, the results of the study from the environmental aspect show that in the coastal area of KubuAddan Village, there are practically no coral reefs where fish gather and as a place to eat fish and other marine animals, so there are relatively no fishermen who go to sea in the waters in front of the beach of KubuAddan Village.

Erwanto revealed that the plan to build an airport in Kubuaddan, North Bali will be carried out by China Construction First Group Corp. Ltd. (CCFG) which is a subsidiary of one of the largest SOEs in the Bamboo Curtain country, China State Construction Engineering Corp. Ltd. (CSCEC).

"The airport that we design is not only an airport that functions as an airport for tourist destinations, but also as an airport that becomes a hub between Asia Pacific and becomes an airport to meet the increasing demand for cargo," he said.