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Solar power plant groundbreaking in Bali Mandara Toll Road. (ANTARA/HO-Jasa Marga) - 

PT Bukit Asam and PT Jasa Marga will build a solar power plant along the Bali Mandara Toll Road to support Indonesia's G20 Presidency in 2022 and the efforts to reduce global carbon emissions.

Business Director of Jasa Marga, Reza Febriano, stated that the Bali Mandara Toll Road, as one of the infrastructures that will support the 2022 G20 Presidency, has grown increasingly environment-friendly with the construction of the solar power plant to source the energy for operational needs of this toll road.

"Reducing global carbon emissions, which was one of the focuses of Indonesia's G20 Presidency, is our concern and commitment," Febriano noted in a written statement received here on Saturday.

He deemed the initiative as aligning with the idea of sustainable energy transition, which is one of the three focuses of the G20 agenda. This view motivated the cooperation with Bukit Asam to develop the solar power plant. This project contributed to the realization of Jasa Marga Group's sustainable toll road efforts.

Director of Business Development at Bukit Asam, Rafli Yandra, also views the power plant as a form of collaborative effort to offer clean and sustainable energy.

The project kicked off with the groundbreaking of the solar power plant at the Ngurah Rai Toll Gate (GT) on the Bali Mandara Toll Road. The event was also a follow-up to the memorandum of understanding signed by the two State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) on February 2, 2022.

The solar power plant along the Bali Mandara Toll Road will be built by Bukit Asam through its subsidiary, PT BEI, to support the business and operational activities of PT JBT, which is a subsidiary of Jasa Marga.

It has a maximum capacity of 400 kilowatt-peak (kWp). Construction of the power plant will commence at the Ngurah Rai Toll Gate, which would then be continued to two other Toll Gates: Nusa Dua and Benoa. Solar panels will be installed at six locations, each at the entry and exit for the motorbikes at three toll gates on the Bali-Mandara Toll Road.

The length of the solar panels on each of these locations is one kilometer. The electricity generated from this power plant will later become an environmentally friendly source of electricity for public street lighting, operational offices, and also toll gates on the Bali Mandara Toll Road. Throughout its construction, Jasa Marga had maintained the safety and comfort of users of the Bali Mandara Toll Road, especially motorcyclists, by ensuring no disturbances in the lane and that they operate optimally according to the minimum service standards.

The project was targeted for completion in July 2022.

The Bali Mandara Toll Road management has also made other eco-friendly programs to support the G20 Presidency in Bali Province, such as planting around 750 thousand mangrove plants//ANT

Presidential Staff Office's (KSP's) Main Expert Wandy Tuturoong. (ANTARA/HO-Kantor Staf Presiden/FR) - 

Presidential Staff Office's (KSP's) main expert Wandy Tuturoong believes that if National Capital Authority (IKN) head overseeing Nusantara's construction has an expansive network covering international institutions and financial sector, then it will support IKN's development.

This expansive network is deemed crucial, as most of the budget sourced for the development of IKN came from Public-Private Partnership (KPBU) and investment to minimize the state budget utilization.

"This will be a plus point," Tuturoong told ANTARA here on Saturday.

President Joko Widodo had earlier stated that 80 percent of the budget for IKN development came from the KPBU scheme and direct investment, while the remaining 20 percent was estimated to be sourced from the state budget.

This 20-percent funding allocation from the state budget aims to build key government structures, such as the Presidential Palace and ministries' or institutions' buildings.

Moreover, the other important aspect in the formation of the IKN Authority is institutional system and structure because the process to relocate and build the new nation's capital Nusantara will be complicated.

The IKN Authority institutional system and structure will be stipulated within the presidential regulation on IKN Authority as a derivative regulation from Law No. 3 of 2022 on the New Nation's Capital (IKN).

Tuturoong estimated that this regulation on IKN authority will be issued in the near future along with the issuance of the president's decision on inaugurating the IKN authority head.

He also believes that the IKN authority head will likely be inaugurated by the president next week, although he cannot yet specifically confirm it.

The government had earlier stated that in the near future, nine derivative regulations from the IKN Law will be issued.

The relocation and development of Nusantara, the nation's new capital, will be conducted gradually until completion in 2045//ANT

West Java Governor M. Ridwan Kamil inaugurate two revitalized traditional markets in Cirebon District, Friday (March 4, 2022). (ANTARA/HO-PR of W Java gov't) - 

West Java Governor M. Ridwan Kamil highlighted that the West Java provincial government had revitalized as many as 21 out of the 25 targeted traditional markets in the province.

"So far, out of the 25 traditional markets targeted for revitalization, 21 markets have been revitalized with funds worth Rp229.7 billion from the financial assistance of the West Java Provincial Government," Kamil noted in a press statement on Saturday.

Recently, the governor inaugurated two traditional markets in Cirebon District that were revitalized: the Pasalaran Market and Weru Snacks Market.

"It is special. Usually, I only inaugurate one market, but now, (I inaugurate) two markets in Cirebon at the same time," he noted.

The cost to revitalize Pasalaran Market reached Rp9.2 billion, and while Rp13.5 billion was used for revitalization of the Waru Snacks Market.

Meanwhile, in 2022, one traditional market in West Java will be revitalized with funding of Rp4 billion.

Kamil affirmed that the West Java government will continue to revitalize markets in order to revive the people's economy affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The governor explained that the traditional market revitalization program targeted to improve conditions in markets, so that they are no longer dirty and chaotic. Thus, residents will feel more comfortable while visiting traditional markets.

A non-cash payment system in Pasalaran Market makes it special.

The market manager cooperated with Bank Indonesia and Bank BJB to use the Quick Response Code Indonesian Standard (QRIS) for payment.

By using QRIS, buyers can make payments in a faster, safer, and easier manner in the traditional market that has around 1,400 merchant booths.

"This is the second target where people no longer have to pay in cash but by non-cash means through QRIS, which will become the new standard," Kamil remarked.

He assessed that currently, most people already use smartphones and have a broad understanding of the digital world.

To this end, Kamil is optimistic that people would gradually move over to conducting digital transactions as a new practice//ANT

Jetstar Asia at I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali, on March 4, 2022. (AP I) - 

Three airlines -- Jetstar Asia, Garuda Indonesia, and Scoot -- landed their aircraft plying on international flight routes at the I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport, Bali, Friday, according to PT Angkasa Pura I (Persero).

"The success of the inaugural landing of aircraft of the three airlines operating on international routes today boosts optimism for the revival of the aviation and tourism industries that have been badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is expected to have a multiplier effect for economic growth in Bali," State-owned airport operator Angkasa Pura I President Director Faik Fahmi noted in his statement on Saturday.

Jetstar Asia's airplane, with flight number 3K243, serving the Singapore-Denpasar route, successfully landed at 9:55 a.m. local time.

Garuda Indonesia's Airbus A330 aircraft, with flight number GA715, carrying 61 passengers aboard, on the Sydney-Denpasar route, landed at 2:45 a.m. local time.

Scoot's Airbus A320 aircraft, with flight number TR288, from Singapore to Denpasar, landed at 6:05 a.m. local time, with 42 passengers aboard, while flight number TR289, with 11 passengers aboard, departed to return back to Singapore at 6:45 p.m. local time.

Fahmi explained that Jetstar Asia operates three flights a week on Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday. Garuda Indonesia operates one flight per week on Friday, while Scoot operates three flights a week on Monday, Friday, and Sunday.

“This also adds to the list of international airlines that have resumed operations in Bali after previously Garuda Indonesia on the Narita-Denpasar route and Singapore Airlines on the Singapore-Denpasar route,” he stated.

According to Fahmi, AP I, as the manager of Bali’s I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport, along with all relevant stakeholders remains committed to continuing to ensure that all international route passengers coming to Bali undergo every inspection process in accordance with the existing regulations.

Moreover, the airport authorities also ensure that the COVID-19 health protocols are implemented strictly to maintain the security, comfort, safety, and health aspects of all passengers at Bali’s I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport.

Since the re-operation of international flights at Bali’s I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport, the airport on February 1-28, 2022, served 2,933 international passengers, with 64 aircraft traffic movements recorded.

In 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the number of international passengers at Bali's I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport had reached 13.8 million, while international aircraft movements reached 73,886//ANT