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President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) inaugurates the passenger terminal at Mopah Airport, Merauke, Papua on Sunday (Oct 3, 2021). ANTARA/screenshot/Desca Lidya Natalia/sh - 

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) on Sunday inaugurated the new 7,200-square-meter passenger terminal at Mopah Airport in Merauke District, Papua Province. 

"We continue to develop Mopah Airport in Merauke, which is situated at the easternmost tip of Indonesia. Today, we have finished the construction of the new passenger terminal in a 7,200 square meter area with the capacity of 638 thousand passengers per year," the President said at the Mopah Airport, Merauke, Papua.

Present at the occasion were Speaker of the House of Representatives Puan Maharani, Public Works and Public Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono, Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi, Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia, Military Chief Air Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto, and Merauke District Head Romanus Mbaraka.

"This (terminal) is very large, and is expected to improve services to passengers," Jokowi said.

The President noted that Indonesia as a vast country needs to improve its connectivity.

"Facilitating the mobility of people, goods and services will make our economy more efficient. It will also improve our competitiveness in global market. That is the importance of infrastructure," Jokowi remarked.

President Jokowi said, during the past seven years, the government has continued to develop airports and ports in a bid to improve connectivity, including through sea toll.

"In future, the capacity of this airport's passenger terminal will be increased to anticipate the increase number of passenger, public mobility and economic activity,"Jokowi added.

The President called on Papua Governor and Merauke District Head to use the Mopah Airport for creating new economic centers in the region and improve its competitiveness in export and investment.

"It should be beneficial to people's welfare in Merauke and boost the development of Papua," Jokowi noted.

Mopah Airport is one of airports in the province prepared to support the National Sports Week (PON) and National Paralympic Week. Other airports prepared to facilitate the national multi-sporting event are Sentani Airport in Jayapura and Mozes Kilangin Airport in Timika.

Merauke will be the venue for some  events, including paramotor, wushu, wrestling, fencing, women's football, chess, and road race.

The development of Mopah Airport worth Rp141 billion was handled by the Transportation Ministry.

A data of the ministry's Directorate General of Air Transportation showed that, in 2018 the number of passengers in the aiport had reached 440 thousand per year.

With its 2,500 meter-long and 45 meter-wide runway, the airport can be landed by such wide-body aircraft as Boeing 737-900 and Airbus A320.

In addition to Mopah Airport, the ministry has also developed other airports in Papua such as Wamena Airport, New Nabire, Ewer, Kepi and Mozes Kilangin Aiport//ANT