The government's construction of the new port of Newport is carried out to support the Batam Free Port Free Trade Area as an international logistics hub, in line with efforts to cut costs to be more competitive. Head of the Batam KPBPB Concession Agency Muhammad Rudi said that the current Batuampar Port is not expected to be able to accommodate the surge in services when Batam becomes a logistics hub, therefore a new port is needed. "The capacity of Batuampar Port is still only 520 thousand TEUs, if according to PP No. 41 of 2021 Batam becomes a logistics hub, then Newport will be built in Sekupang," said Muhammad Rudi in Batam, Tuesday. The port in Batam is expected to be an activity area for moving cargo from one ship to another or transshipment for international and Indonesian needs, therefore it must have a large capacity. "The container hub will be turned on in Batam, so all containers in Batam are not only for consumption by city residents. But also become transshipments, so it can be an income for BP Batam, the regional government, and the central government," he said.
The construction of Newport will begin soon, according to the wishes of the central government. KPBPB Batam immediately prepares all its needs, including preparing regulations. He said that based on the spatial layout, Tanjungpinggir, the location for Newport's development, was for tourism, so it had to be converted into a port. His party will submit a master plan as well as land spatial changes. Meanwhile, while waiting for the construction of the new port to be completed, the revitalization of Batuampar Port will continue. According to him, later the Batuampar Port will be special for national containers, to meet domestic needs. Meanwhile, the export-import ports will still be carried out at two ports, following the instructions of the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan during a visit to Batam.
