VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Jakarta. Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi said the Indonesian government will build a national fish storage center under a solicited scheme or the government's initiative.

"Our President's direction is to carry out a solicited development, meaning that the government will begin to acquire 200 hectares of land and prepare basic infrastructure," the minister said at a press conference after a limited meeting with President Widodo in Jakarta on Monday.

The Minister of Transportation said that eastern Indonesia is rich in fish.

According to the report of the Marine and Fisheries Minister, there are many things that can be made effective so that fishing functions can be scaled up, he noted.

"From there, we see that to make a national fish storage center, it is not enough that the existing ports are developed or used, but we need one port where the port is shared with industrial areas," he pointed out.

Therefore, the government has decided to carry out development under the solicited scheme, he added.

The government will thereafter conduct a cooperation auction between government and business entities (KPBU), with an investment value of approximately Rp5 trillion, he informed.

In addition, he said, there is an opportunity to develop the area over 900 hectares, of which 700 hectares would be released by the private sector.

"We also discussed that the construction period was two years, but we want to restructure the fishing count methods so that for the past two years, we can operate the two ports in Ambon," he explained. (Antaranews)