Next Policy Package to Improve Port Dwelling Time: Chief Economic Minister
Jakarta. The Indonesian government is set to roll out another policy package later this month that will reduce dwelling time duration at ports as part of the government's efforts to improve logistics, attract much-needed investment which, in turn, will propel the economy.
"This month we will prepare and release the 15th policy package which will be about logistics and the practice of single data and information submission through the Indonesia National Single Window portal [known as INSW]," Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Darmin Nasution said on Wednesday (04/01).
According to Darmin, the INSW is part of the government's efforts to reduce dwelling time at Tanjung Priok Port to two days, from 2.9 days currently.
Previously, the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Panjaitan sent a team to evaluate the dwelling time at ports. He concluded that the ports need to use an additional crane, have a better operation system and create dry ports – or an inland intermodal terminal that connects directly to a seaport by road or rail.
"If the [state-owned port operator] Pelindo is struggling with it then ask a private party to be more transparent," Luhut said. "We can't afford to be late because dwelling time is is expensive, and we need to [cut costs]."
Meanwhile, a Ministry of Transportation director for sea transport traffic Bay M Hasani said the government has already issued a ministerial regulation in 2015 on the maximum time to store goods, allowing for goods to be stored for up to a maximum of three days at Tanjung Priok Port.
The regulation, however, does not cover other big ports such as Belawan Port in Medan, North Sumatra; Tanjung Perak Port in Surabaya, East Java; and Makassar Port in South Sulawesi.
The new policy package will be part of the government's string of policy packages released since September 2015. Darmin has said that the policy packages will attract domestic and international investment.
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