[Kabar-indonesia] 14 years after first planned, construction of new N. Sumatra airport begins

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also: JP: Kalla changes planes after cockpit window cracks 

The Jakarta Post
Friday, June 30, 2006

Construction of new airport begins in North Sumatra 

Rendi A. Witular and Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan

Vice President Jusuf Kalla officially inaugurated construction Thursday on a 
long-waited new international airport in North Sumatra's capital almost 14 
years after it was first planned.

He sounded a siren and laid the first brick for the Kuala Namu International 
Airport in Beringin district, Deli Serdang regency, outside the provincial 
capital of Medan. 

With its first phase construction capable of accommodating up to 10 million 
passengers annually, and 50 million later, the airport will be the country's 
second largest after the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, 
Banten. Construction is slated for completion in 2009. 

"The Kuala Namu airport will function as an international hub. With its 
location, which is north of Singapore, international airlines will prefer to use 
this airport for transit because it will be more efficient," Transportation 
Minister Hatta Radjasa said. 

He reiterated that Kuala Namu would be the country's first airport linked by 
railway. Investment for the railway to Medan is estimated to reach Rp 200 
billion (US$215 million). 

State airport operator PT Angkasa Pura II and state railway operator PT KAI 
have inked a deal to form a joint-venture company to manage the railway. 

State Minister for State Enterprises Sugiharto said investment for the first 
phase construction of Kuala Namu would reach Rp 1.2 trillion for the main 
facilities, and Rp 2.2 trillion for supporting facilities. 

Angkasa Pura, which will operate the airport, will bear the cost of its 
construction, while the government will also seek soft loans from the Asian 
Development Bank (ADB) and the state budget. 

The government is upbeat that with the sharp increase of passengers at the 
airport, the ADB loans could be paid off in full four years after the airport's 
operation. 

Kalla said the construction of the airport would be completely handled by 
local companies, including for its design and architecture, for cost efficiency. 

"We had fairly bad experiences during the construction of the Soekarno-Hatta 
Airport, which involved many foreign companies. The design of the airport has 
failed to accommodate local customs, such as the design of its toilets," he 
said. 

The government is speeding up the construction of Kuala Namu to replace 
Medan's Polonia Airport, officially opened in 1928 and considered no longer safe 
for most types of modern wide-bodied aircraft. A number of plane crashes have 
occurred at the aging airport over the past three years, killing more than 400 
people. 

Investigators attributed the accidents to a series of problems, including its 
location on 144 hectares squeezed between two rivers and surrounded by 
residential areas. 

The airport, which is located in the center of Medan, is capable of handling 
about 900,000 passengers annually, although the number increased to 4.5 
million last year, with services suffering as a result of the overload. 

"Aside from the bad service, the local administration has also complained 
that the location of the airport has prevented them from issuing licenses for 
investors to construct high-rise buildings due to the fear the aircraft could 
crash into them," said Hatta. 

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The Jakarta Post
Friday, June 30, 2006

Kalla changes planes after cockpit window cracks 

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Vice President Jusuf Kalla's entourage had to switch planes in Medan after 
its Fokker-28 aircraft from Jakarta sustained a crack in its cockpit window 
Thursday before landing in the North Sumatra capital.

He was in Medan for the ground-breaking ceremony for Kuala Namu International 
Airport. 

"There was a small hole (in the window), so we had to change planes," Kalla 
told reporters at Polonia Airport in Medan. 

Kalla, accompanied by State Minister for State Enterprises Sugiharto and 
Transportation Minister Hatta Radjasa, then took a commercial flight operated by 
Batavia Air to return to Jakarta in the afternoon. 

Asked by reporters if the mishap showed the urgent need to provide a special 
presidential plane, Kalla responded with a smile: "There is a need for a new 
airplane for the President and the Vice President." 

Few details were available about the incident, and it was not known if the 
crack was due to structural damage or collision with an object, such as a flock 
of birds. Officials said the crack occurred when the Air Force plane was 
already in North Sumatra airspace. 

There have been a number of accidents involving older generation aircraft in 
recent years in the country, including a Boeing 737-200 aircraft, operated by 
Batavia Air, that skidded off the runway at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta 
International Airport in May after it was forced to return to the airport shortly after 
takeoff. 

The Transportation Ministry has banned all commercial flight operators here 
from importing the older generation 737-200. 

"I have urged airlines not to use old airplanes because they often encounter 
problems, and its performance was not good because it was old," Hatta said in 
Medan. 

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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