Ministry staff to speed aviation infrastructure

The Jakarta Post,  JAKARTA  |  Tue, 03/10/2009 11:10 am 

The new Transportation Ministry director general for air transportation was appointed on Thursday, to speed up infrastructure developments and develop air safety in the industry. As well as completing key projects, the ministry hopes the newly appointed director general, Herry Bakti S, will ensure the implementation of the new aviation law, Transportation Minister Jusman Syafi’i Djamal said recently. 

Herry replaces Budhi Muliawan Suyitno. 

“I hope the new director general can finish the construction of Kualanamu International Airport in North Sumatra this year,” said Jusman, adding that construction was being accelerated to meet the government’s economic stimulus plan. 

The government had planned to build Kualanamu airport since 2007, replacing the existing Polonia Airport in the North Sumatra capital, Medan. 

Kualanamu was now 30 to 40 percent complete, Jusman said. The project has been estimated to cost around Rp 930 billion (US$77 million) and is being funded by the state. 

As part of the Rp 73.3 trillion stimulus package set aside by the government to help cushion the impacts of the global economic crisis, it allocated Rp 12.2 trillion for infrastructure projects. 

“The [Kualanamu’s] runways are still under construction, but the terminal and some other facilities have been completed,” Jusman said. 

Before assuming the position, Herry was an expert staff to the minister and chief administrator of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. 

“Herry’s job is to ensure the implementation of the Law No. 1/2009 on Aviation — a law that had been successfully delivered by Budhi,” Jusman said. 

In response to international pressure, the new law stipulates tougher terms for air safety. 

After a string of airline accidents in Indonesia and the failure of local authorities to provide adequate safety assurances, in 2007 the European Union (EU) imposed a blanket ban forbidding any Indonesian airlines from entering its air space. 

The minister said he had also ordered Herry to develop safety management in every Indonesian airline, to bring it in line with the ministry’s Road Map to Zero Accidents and, hopefully, end the EU ban. 

The road map includes recommendations to increase the budget for air transport regulations, and to allow the National Transportation Safety Committee to report directly to the President. 

Commenting on the task, Herry said, he would prefer to use a technical approach through discussions as his strategy toward lifting the EU ban, as opposed to legal action.