VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

President Joko Widodo visited Labuan Bajo in East Nusa Tenggara between 19 and 21 of January 2020. The Indonesian government had included Labuan Bajo as one of the five super priority destinations.

On the first day of his working visit on Monday, President Joko Widodo held a limited cabinet meeting with Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Wishnutama, Public Works and People Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono, Transport Minister Budi Karya Sumadi, Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar, State-owned Enterprise Minister Erick Thohir, National Disaster Mitigation Agency Head Lt Gen Doni Monardo, National Search and Rescue Agency Head Vice Admiral Bagus Puruhito, East Nusa Tenggara Governor Viktor Laiskodata and West Manggarai Regent Agustinus Ch. Dula.

After the meeting, the President conveyed his intention to prepare Labuan Bajo for G20 Summit in 2023. Another international event to be held in Labuan Bajo will be the ASEAN Summit. The President said, the biggest obstacle in preparing Labuan Bajo as an international event host is infrastructure, landscape, waste, and raw water deficiency. Therefore, the preparation must begin this year.

About raw water, President Joko Widodo asked Minister Basuki to increase raw water capacity to around 100 milliliters per second. On waste, he wanted the Public Works and People Housing Ministry to prepare integrated waste management infrastructure, both for land and sea waste. For land waste, President wants the Ministry to build an incinerator and landfill. While for sea waste, he wants ships to be responsible for the cleaning. These activities are expected to begin in February 2020. President affirmed that the most important part is people’s education about waste management. He hoped there will be no garbage in Labuan Bajo.

The Head of State has also instructed Forestry and Environment Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar to make green areas by planting seeds. The target is to produce five million to seven million trees every year.

In infrastructure, President Joko Widodo pushed for the development of Komodo Airport and the tourism area. Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said, he will expand the runway at Komodo Airport. With the expansion, the runway can be used for big aircrafts such as Airbus 300.