A consortium has been awarded by Indonesia's government to the one managing Singapore Changi Airport that includes a concession of 25 years to operate and develop Komodo Airport in Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara.
Located on Flores Island and considered as the gateway to highly famous Komodo National Park, Komodo Airport neighbors the famous Komodo Island.
On Thursday Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi announced the consortium, Indonesia's publicly listed PT Cardig Aero Service (CAS Group) air transportation service company and Changi Airports International (CAI), a subsidiary of Singapore’s Changi Airport Group has won the tender for Komodo Airport Expansion project.
An estimated value of Rs.1.2 trillion (US$ 85.82 million) is given to the project.
The expectation from consortium by government is to expand the domestic terminal and develop international terminal along with extending the runway and apron.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawat gave a statement that an estimated cost of Rp Rp 5.7 trillion will be carried as a concession in operational cost of 25 years. After that period the airport will be handed over to Indonesian government.
Budi Karya added that the government pinned its hopes on the consortium's expertise in increasing passenger traffic, and expected it to boost passenger traffic at Komodo Airport from 500,000 passengers per year at present to 4 million passengers by 2044.
“International connectivity is important to us. Although we are a big country, the [transportation] hub for Southeast Asia is Singapore. If we cooperate with Singapore, it will indirectly [attract] passengers from there to Labuan Bajo,” he said.
Labuan Bajo as a tourist destination is declared a "super priority" by the government as an effort to diversify the Country's top destination over Bali. andalika in West Nusa Tenggara, Borobudur in Central Java, Likupang in North Sulawesi, and Lake Toba in North Sumatra are also considered as other super priority tourist destinations.
President Joko Widodo plans to upgrade public infrastructure and facilities at super priority destinations by the end of 2020 so they have the capacity to accommodate international tourists.
BPS Statistics Indonesia data gives a clear picture of Indonesia welcoming 13.62 million foreign tourist between January and October last year showing an increase of 2.8 percent over 2018