The Indonesian government is expected to sign a US$1.7 billion loan agreement with the Japanese government for the construction of Patimban port in West Javas Subang district later this month, an official said.

“We hope the loan agreement between Indonesia and Japan can be signed in mid-November 2017,” Port Director of the Transportation Ministry, Chandra Irawan, said in a press statement released on Thursday.

The loan agreement may be signed after the Transportation Ministry conducts internal coordination with the Finance Ministry, which processes the loan agreement; the Foreign Ministry, which processes the exchange of note; the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), which processes foreign cooperation plan; and the Public Works and Housing Ministry, which acts as implementing agency to build roads heading to the port, he stated.

The plan for the construction of Patimban port has been discussed at a plenary meeting and working group meeting on port and maritime affairs, he noted.

At the plenary meeting, the Indonesian delegation was led by Secretary General of the Transportation Ministry, Sugihardjo, and the Japanese delegation was led by Vice-Minister for International Affairs, Hiroshi Narahira.

At the meeting, both sides endorsed detailed engineering design and administrative process related to the phase 1-1 of the construction of the port.

“Exactly on Oct 31, 2017, we have begun a tender for package 1 during the phase 1-1 covering the construction of a car terminal and a container terminal. We hope the packages 2 and 3 for the phase 1-1 could be processed in one to two weeks time,” Chandra remarked.

He revealed that the compensation for land clearance to make way for the construction of the port could be paid between December 2017 and February 2018.

He added that the state electricity company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) and the Subang district drinking water company have expressed readiness to supply electrical power and clean water.

“The PLNs support will later be put in a cooperation contract between the Transportation Ministry and PLN, Under the contract, PLN will assure electrical power supplies during the specified time,” he explained.

The government is set to start the construction of the port early next year.

source: antaranews.com