Jakarta (Indonesia Window) - The Indonesian Ministry of Transportation was urged to postpone the planned development of the Patimban Port in Subang, West Java province in connection with the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak which has been attacking Indonesia.

A press release by the National Maritime Institute (Namarin)’s Executive Director Siswanto Rusdi said here on Monday that Indonesia and many other countries are currently facing the Covid-19, so that a lot of budgets are needed to overcome the pandemic outbreak.

Therefore, the executive director requested that the Ministry of Transportation think realistically and delay the construction of existing infrastructure projects, including the Patimban Port project.

According to him, in the midst of the current situation people no longer think of projects but ways to overcome the corona outbreak, while the Ministry of Transportation wants the Patimban Port project to continue on schedule.

Previously the Namarin director learned that the Ministry of Transportation would make a confirmation on Letter of Intent (LoI) to several companies that had expressed interests in managing the Patimban Port.

Regarding the Patimban Port development project, four companies have previously stated their interests in managing the port, namely Astra Infra (a subsidiary of Astra Group), PT Samudra Indonesia, PT Nusantara Pelabuhan Handal, and PT Teknologi Research Global.

Previously, the Ministry of Transportation said that the auction process for Patimban Port operators would begin in February 2020 after retreating from the initial plan in December 2019.

The plan was made by considering the progress of physical work and a soft launching ceremony is expected to be carried out in June 2020, while the auction process will take three months.

The said auction is open and can be participated in by state-owned enterprises, the private sector and foreign parties. Interested foreign parties must cooperate with port business entities from Indonesia, but with lower shares.

Reporting by Indonesia Window