Indonesia’s Kertajati international airport inaugurated-
Over the past decade or so, airport infrastructure development in Southeast Asia has been booming. In line with the development of capacity/infrastructure and the expected boom in demand in the sector, Indonesia’s aviation industry has forecast double-digit passenger growth in 2018.
The recently inaugurated new Kertajati International Airport in Majalengka, West Java, is intended to minimise air traffic at the Husein Sastranegara International Airport in Bandung as well as Soekarno Hatta International Airport in Jakarta. It is also expected to spur Indonesia’s economic growth. The airport will be supported by intermoda, which is air supported by land, sea and rail. First announced in 2004, the foundation stone for the project was laid in November 2015. After much delay, Stage I of the airport was officially inaugurated on May 24, 2018. Flight operations on the airport are expected to commence by July 2018.
Project overview and progress
The project is planned to be undertaken in three stages.
Stage I: The scope of work includes the construction of a 3 km long, 60 metre wide single runway. The runway has been designed to support take-off and landing operations of large-sized aircraft such as A380, B747 and B777. It also includes the construction of a two-floor passenger terminal building spread across an area of 96,000 square metres (sq. m). The other infrastructural facilities under Stage I include commercial apron for parking, loading or unloading and refuelling aircraft (397,980 sq. m), a cargo building, a commercial unit, an air traffic control (ATC) tower, supporting facilities, and parallel and cross taxiways.
Stage II: The scope of work includes the extension of the runway length to 3.5 km and the passenger terminal area to 121,100 sq. m. It also includes expansion of the apron space to 490,400 sq. m, cargo terminal building capacity to 0.07 million tonnes per annum (mtpa), and the extension of parallel and cross-taxiways.
Stage III: The third stage of the airport will involve the construction of a 3.5 km long and 45 metre wide second runway. In line with the second stage, Stage III will also involve the expansion of the passenger terminal (to 162,150 sq. m) apron size (to 683,800 sq. m), and cargo terminal capacity (0.6 mtpa).
Upon completion of all the three stages, the airport will have a combined cargo terminal capacity of 1.5 mtpa, a terminal size of 209,500 sq. m and an apron size of 862.2 sq. m.
The project is being developed by PT Bandara Internasional Jawa Barat (BIJB), a regionally owned state enterprise established by the provincial government of Jawa Barat (West Java). The project received support from engineering, procurement and construction contractors including local contractors and foreign players. Initially, the project faced a lot of land acquisition issues and resistance from locals over the site. However, they were later resolved, following which construction work on the airport began.
In addition, in January 2017, PT BIJB signed an MoU with PT Railink to develop and manage a multi-modal terminal. The terminal is being developed to enable public transport to and from the airport. Following this, in May 2017, PT BIJB signed a cooperation agreement with PT Pertamina to develop and manage the aviation refuelling depot at the airport.
Project financing
The airport is estimated to entail an investment of $800 million. The project received funds amounting to $80 million from the Ministry of Transportation for the development of air infrastructure including runways, ATC towers, apron area, taxiways, safety fences, etc. Besides, a consortium of seven banks – Bank Jateng Syariah, Bank Sumut Syariah, Bank Kalbar Syariah, Bank Sulbar Syariah, Bank Jambi Syariah, Bank Kalsel Syariah, and Bank BJB Syariah – provided funds worth Rp 906 billion ($63.31 million) for the implementation of the project.
The way forward
As a greenfield airport project (being developed on an undeveloped site), the Kertajati airport project is expected to spur commercial and industrial development on farmlands surrounding it. The airport is also expected to become a gateway airport to West Java acting as an economic centre for the region. Initially, the airport is expected to handle 1-1.5 million passengers.
Upon completion, the passenger capacity is expected to increase from 5 million passengers per annum (mppa) to 8 mppa (Stage II) and further to (+/-) 18 mppa (Stage III).
