Indonesia to Buy New Airport Radar for Jakarta

Jakarta, Indonesia (News Today) - Indonesia will spend up to 1 trillion rupiah ($111 million) on a new air traffic control radar at Jakarta’s main airport after the existing system failed and caused delays, a minister said on Tuesday. Fixing Indonesia’s rickety infrastructure is seen as a crucial step toward boosting investment in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy and helping it achieve investment grade status.

The air traffic control radar system at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta airport broke down for about 30 minutes on Sunday, disrupting more than 20 domestic flights, local media reported. The chief economic minister, Hatta Rajasa, told reporters that the government would buy a new radar system for the
airport.

“The procurement of the radar, which will be worth between 900 billion rupiah and 1 trillion rupiah, will start this year and will be completed next year,” Rajasa said, adding that the system would be integrated with the air traffic control system at the relatively new Makassar airport on Sulawesi island.

“They can back each other up. If it is crowded at Makassar, they can get back up from the Jakarta system and vice versa,” he said. “With a new automated air traffic system, it’s expected things will improve.”

The current air traffic control radar at Jakarta’s airport was built in 1985 and was only designed to handle around 500 incoming and outgoing flights a day, he said. Indonesia’s air transport sector has grown rapidly over the past decade. Several new domestic carriers have started up and price competition and rising incomes have made fares more affordable for many Indonesians.

As a result the number of landings and take-offs at the airport has risen to 2,000 a day, Rajasa said. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono this month proposed increasing infrastructure spending, announcing plans to build 14 new airports, as well as roads and railways.

The government has also floated the possibility of moving the capital to ease the strain on Jakarta’s creaking infrastructure. Yudhoyono has said capital spending on infrastructure will reach 121.7 trillion rupiah in 2011, up 28 percent from this year.

Source : kompas

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