FOUR C KALIMANTAN DISTRICTS BUILDING OWN AIRPORTS

Jakarta Forum - Palangkaraya, C Kalimantan, Four districts in Central Kalimantan province`s interior are planning to build their own airports to meet their increasing need for inter-regional air transportation.

"A number of districts in this province are enthusiastically planning to build airports of their own with a few of them motivated by the desire to end their dependence on borrowed airports," head of Central Kalimantan`s communications and informatics office, Muhammad Hatta, said here Wednesday.

The districts he meant were Barito Utara, Murung Raya, Kotawaringin Barat, and Lamandau.

The Murung Raya and Kotawaringin Barat district administrations were already making the necessary preparations to build airports of their own because the airports they were using so far belonged to other parties.

The Dirung airport at Puruk Cahu in Murung Raya district, for instance, was owned by mining company PT Indomoro Kencana which had loaned the facility to the district.

People in Kotawaringin Barat district were until now still using Iskandar airport at Pangkalan Bun which was actually an Air Force base also serving civilian aircraft.

Meanwhile, the Barito Utara district administration had already begun building an airport to which its old Beringin airport in Muara Teweh would be relocated. The relocation was necessary because Beringin airport was located near residential areas and therefore hard to expand.

The only region planning to build an airport because it never has had one, was Lamandau district where people needing air transportation had to make a two-hour overland trip first to Iskandar airport at Pangkalan Bun.

Meanwhile, Central Kalimantan Governor Agustin Teras Narang said ideally each district in the province should have an airport of its own in view of the vastness of the province`s territory and the relatively great distances that lay between one town and the other.

"My idea is that every district should have at least one air field or strip to break their isolation," he said.

Of all of Central Kalimantan`s districts or municipalities, five still had no airport at all, namely Kapuas, Pulang Pisau, Barito Timur, Lamandau, and Sukamara.

According to provincial government data, Central Kalimantan now has a total of nine airports with eight of them serving regular flights to and from other provinces and inter-district air services, and one in moribund condition.

Source: Antara News