LONDON: Fears of a monopoly on port services in Indonesia have prompted the Indonesian Port Operators Association (IPOA) to challenge a Transportation Ministry plan to hand over government-controlled ports to state-owned operators, local reports said. “It’s important to make sure we offer the same opportunities to operate the ports to both state-owned enterprises and private companies to avoid a monopoly that will affect the quality of port services in Indonesia,” IPOA chairman Aulia Febrial Fatwa said.
Aulia’s comments came in response to new Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi’s plan to improve port management by offering hundreds of ports — currently managed by the ministry’s technical managing units (UPT) — to state operators, including Pelindo I, Pelindo II, Pelindo III and Pelindo IV. “Some ports are managed by the ministry and the others are managed by Pelindo,” Budi said. “We want to hand over all the ports to Pelindo so the ministry’s role as a regulator and Pelindo as an operator do not overlap,” Budi said.
Adolf Tambunan, director of ports and dredging at the ministry’s sea transportation directorate general, said there are 2,155 ports in Indonesia — 1,141 of which are managed by Pelindo I, II, III and IV. Other reasons to hand over port management to SOEs included a lack of investment and a desire to improve port management efficiency, Adolf said.
