Jakarta, Sept 26 (Antara) - West Kalimantan is busy making preparations for the success of the 'Sail Karimata Strait' event in the Datuk Sukadana Islet beach, North Kayong District.
The sail event has been launched since last June, involving four provinces of West Kalimantan, Riau Islands, Jambi and Bangka Belitung. The peak event will take place in North Kayong District on October 15 next month.
West Kalimantan Governor Cornelius has assured that he will himself continuously inspect the ongoing preparations so that everything runs smoothly. The governor held a meeting on Monday in this context.
"I will keep a check on the progress. We today had a meeting to discuss the preparations," Governor Cornelius was quoted as saying by Tribunpontianak.co.id news portal on Monday.
According to the governor, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) is expected to open the peak event of Sail Karimata Strait 2016. Therefore, all relevant regional officials should ensure that everything is in place before the October 15 deadline.
The transportation arrangements and technical aspects should be as per international standards. "The president will arrive on October 15, 2016. All arrangements must be in place before that, " the governor added.
Till last Thursday, a total of 36 yachts from 20 countries had officially confirmed their participation in the sailing event.
Deputy IV for human resources coordination of the office of the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Safri Burhanuddin, said after bidding farewell to some sail participants at Tanjung Priok Port of Jakarta on Thursday that some sailors had arrived at Ketapang and would proceed to the site of the peak event in North Kayong District.
"About 36 yachts have officially registered and we are still waiting for another batch of 50 boats which are now entering the Ketapang waters. They can go ahead directly to North Kayong District," Burhanuddin informed.
Burhanuddin pointed out that that Sail Karimata Strait 2016 was aimed to improve the economy of the regions bordering the Karimata Strait, namely the provinces of Riau Islands, Jambi, Bangka Belitung and West Kalimantan.
As the primary aim of the sailing event is to boost tourism, the government will improve the needed facilities in that sector. At least 20 countries will take part in the peak event, according to Burhanuddin.
Among the facilities being prepared for the sailors were special ships at the Marina. Clean water supplies will be ensured. Repair work in roads in the North Kayong District was on. The local government has set a target that three days before the peak event, all roads should be repaired.
"The North Kayong District was once part of the Ketapang District. It split from Ketapang 11 years ago and consequently the facilities remained limited. Yet, Kayong is better placed when compared with other districts in the province. As of now, 90 percent of the preparations have been completed.
In the meantime, the Head of Human Resources and Fishermen Empowerment Affairs of the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry, Rifky E. Hardijanto, said President Joko Widodo has stressed that Indonesia must move towards maritime development.
As a vast maritime country with thousands of islands, Indonesia is strategically located between two oceans and two continents, making it important from the viewpoint of an important international trade lane with a big maritime potential.
"We recorded that Indonesia has a maritime potential worth US$146.7 billion. This comes from maritime biotechnological processed products, fisheries, oil, gas, minerals and transportation. This excludes service, salt and tourism industries," Hardijanto said.
However, all the resources still contribute a mere 13 percent to the Gross Domestic Product. Steps should be taken to increase it. Organizing events such as Sail Indonesia will boost the marine tourism sector.
The government hopes that Sail Karimata would have high economic value that could transform the maritime sector into a main contributor to the government's target of earning some US$4 billion of foreign exchange from the tourism sector by the year 2019.
Therefore, the government has so far held various sail Indonesia events as it is convinced that these events have the potential to contribute to the tourism sector.
After all, such events that have been categorized as marine tourism activities have so far contributed still only about 10 percent of the total US$1 billion worth of foreign exchange earned from the tourism sector.
Indonesia's earnings from the tourism sector are still small compared to that of Malaysia which earns about $8 billion from this sector.
"This is a challenge for us. If our projection of $4 billion in 2019 is realized, we will still stand outclassed by Malaysia," Tourism Minister Arief Yahya stated at the launch of the event in Jakarta on June 1.
The Sail Karimata is the eighth of Sail Indonesia organized for the first time in 2009.
The previous sail events were Sail Bunaken, held in North Sulawesi in 2009, Sail Banda in Maluku in 2010, Sail Wakatobi-Belitung in Southeast Sulawesi and Bangka Balitung in 2011, and Sail Morotai in North Maluku in 2012, in addition to Sail Komodo in East Nusa Tenggara in 2013, Sail Raja Ampat in West Papua in 2014, and Sail Tomini held in the provinces of Central Sulawesi and Gorontalo in 2015.***1***(A014/INE)EDITED BY INE
(T.A014/A/BESSR/A. Abdussalam) 26-09-2016 21:32: |
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