Juergen Volkmann
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| North Sumatra to get new airport soon |
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North Sumatra to get new airport soon
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, 15.04.2006
After repeated delays, the central government has renewed its promise to start the construction of
Kuala Namu airport in Deli Serdang regency in September. The facility would replace North Sumatra's
ailing Polonia airport in Medan.
The promise was made by State Minister of National Development Planning Paskah Suzetta in Medan on
Thursday after consulting with Transportation Minister Hatta Radjasa.
"We plan to start Kuala Namu airport construction in September this year. We've chosen that month
to mark the extraordinary incident that happened then. We want to use the moment to start Kuala
Namu construction," he told The Jakarta Post after opening the province's national development
planning meeting.
The extraordinary incident was the tragic Mandala airline crash near Polonia airport last
September that killed 149 people, including the province's governor, T. Rizal Nurdin.
Paskah said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has paid close attention to the planned
construction of Kuala Namu airport.
"President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has instructed related ministers to finish Kuala Namu airport
construction as soon as possible," he said.
Paskah said construction of the airport will be funded through the state budget as well as the
Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank. He could not reveal how much of the money would
come from the state budget.
"I can't give you the figure now but apart from the state budget, we're currently working to get
financial support from the ADB, the World Bank and other sources," Paskah said.
Chairman of the North Sumatra Development Planning Agency (Bappeda) RE Nainggolan said it would
take at least Rp 4.4 trillion to build Kuala Namu airport.
"We hope the central government's promise to build Kuala Namu airport this September will be
realized because the plan to move Polonia airport has been around for almost 10 years. The airport
is no longer suitable (as an international airport) and many victims have died there," Nainggolan
said.
A series of plane crashes have plagued the aging airport over the past three decades, killing more
than 400 people.
Last year, a Mandala Airlines Indonesia Boeing 737-200 jetliner crashed in a heavily populated
area next to Polonia, killing 102 people on board and 47 on the ground. Fifteen passengers survived
the crash, the country's worst in eight years.
Other accidents at the airport in recent years include the crash of a Fokker F28-100 in 1979,
which killed 64 people, a Dakota DC9-32 wreck in 1987, which killed 23 people, and a Garuda Airbus
A300 crash in 1997, which claimed the lives of 234.
Investigators said the accidents were caused by a series of problems, including the limited size
of the airport and its location on 144 hectares of land squeezed in between two rivers and bounded
by residential areas.
Nainggolan said another problem is the length of Polonia's 2,900-meter runway, of which only 2,625
meters can be used.
Despite its status as an international airport, there's only one way to take off or land at
Polonia, which poses problems for air traffic control. The airport is too small for medium- and
wide-bodied aircraft, and nearby Mount Sibayak makes it difficult for aircraft on certain flight
paths to maneuver.
Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com
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