The easternmost region development has been one of the primary attention lately. Starting from infrastructure to the sea toll, the government has been striving to elevate the region’s livelihood. In West Papua, the sea toll has been considered successful since it provides a sufficient hub for supply and economy. But how good is it?
Sea Toll Bringing 30 Sea Routes To The Region
The idea of the sea toll to reach Papua has been initialized since 2015. At the initial development, the island has only two routes to offers. Over time, the routes and availability have continued to increase. A year after the first development, the sea toll grew to six new routes.
In the following years, the number of routes will grow to 13, 18, 20, and 25 routes in 2020. In early 2021, the government added four new routes bringing a total of 30 routes to access the area. It was part of the government effort to elevate local livelihoods on the 3TP (underdeveloped, remote, and outermost) and border areas.
It is also one of the efforts and infrastructure development to bump up the local potential, especially for highly known areas such as West Papua with its natural resources. At the end of 2021, two more routes were running to facilitate PON XX Papua and help better logistics and infrastructure growth in the region.
Depart As The Central Hub Of The Region
To facilitate the service route with code T-19, the new opening route in 2021 has made Depapre post the central hub. The Ministry has been aware of the possibilities, which is why the local port and harbor has been getting a lot of improvement in recent years. Some preparation includes optimizing performance and activities in the port.
Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi, also mentioned that the port has served a new sea freight since 2021. With that in mind, port optimization comes in both land and seasides. The record said that the 2015-2020 development used a total investment of about Rp 175 billion from the state budget.
The Destinations
As Depapre becomes one of the main ports for better sea freight, there are also possibilities of other destinations. West Papua Fak Fak Regency is one of the areas that the sea toll reaches. Thus, some locations have been preparing the port for better trade. Other than that, there is also Korido in Supriori Regency who offers different potential commodities.
The Following Effect
The fast development of the sea route itself is not without reason or meaning. The government has been trying to increase the livelihood of the 3T and border areas. However, the idea of the sea toll also comes with many other following effects. The effects are pretty much many other functions that the region can get for a long time.
1. Reduced Price Disparity
One of the specific reasons and effects is to reduce price disparity for the market and logistics. According to the ministry of trade data, the sea highway has helped create a price of good disparity between 20-30 percent. It is said that shipping through sea freight is one of the keys to removing price disparities on the eastern Indonesian locals.
2. Rice Supply For Papua
Another good effect of the sea toll implementation, especially the T-19 route across West Papua and Papua is the rice supply. Since the new T-19 route started, the idea has helped solve the issues of rice distribution. The tour is a great increase and development in the logistic distribution, which is the rice distribution.
The T-19 route itself linked some areas across papua, which is starting from Merauke, to Kokas, Sorong, Korido, jayapura, Sorong, and Merauke. The freight contains rice (56 containers). The increasing number of T-19 routes is also a result of the farmer alliance and Merauke logistics agency, which help distribute rice supply to the regions.
3. Access To Drinking Water Product
Along with the rice supply, the new sea highway is also a great solution for drinking water product delivery. PDAM or Regional Drinking Water Company of Jayapura can distribute drinking water to many other areas. T-19 particularly is the solution since it reaches Depapre before distributing it to other locations.
4. Materials Shipment And Logistic Cost Cut
For further regional development and attracting investors, the West Papua and Papua sea toll help distribute material shipment. It facilitates the delivery of sand and chips to Merauke for building infrastructure. There is also a significant cost cut for logistics since there is no need to buy outside the island. Papua can make products and distribute them for a more affordable price.
Aside from being known for its magnificent eco-tourism, unfortunately, the region is also one of the 3T areas. That is why constant development is needed. In this case, the sea Toll is one of the successful sea infrastructure expansions. Not only transportation, but it is also a supply route for local needs, logistics, and markets.
