Govt to relocate Cilamaya port to Subang

By Febry Silaban

The government has started discussing plans of building a seaport in Patimban, Subang, Banten province as an alternative to the Cilamaya port in West Java whose development plan has been rejected by the government.

On Monday, President Joko Widodo chaired a Cabinet limited meeting to discuss the Patimban port project. He was accompanied by Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

The President said a new port needs to be built in western Java to anticipate the increase in logistics. In the beginning, the port was proposed to be located in Cilamaya, Karawang regency. However, if it the port is built there, it may risk causing troubles on oil and gas infrastructures and others near the port.

?Thereby, we looked for an alternative location and we found it in Patimban, Subang regency,? the President said.

Cilamaya was chosen as the location of the seaport project by the Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono government after evaluating several other alternatives. It is close to industrial parks in Karawang. However, the selection of Cilamaya as the location for the port drew protests from state owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina as it is close to the ONWJ block operated by PT Pertamina Hulu Energi (PHE). It is feared that some vessels may hit rigs at the block. ONWJ is the main supplier of gas to Jakarta and surrounding areas.

During the Cabinet meeting, the President said before he made a decision to relocate the port to Patimban, he needed inputs from regarding various aspects related to technical, legal and funding aspects of the project.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon