Indonesia intends to expand and modernise five of its operated ports in 2015, according to Eriansyah, Spokesman of the State-owned seaport operator PT Pelabuhan Indonesia (Pelindo) I.

The ports include Malahayati in Aceh Besar, Belawan of Medan in North Sumatra, Kuala Tanjung in Batubara, North Sumatra and Dumai in Dumai, Riau.

They are among 24 ports across the country to be developed and expanded by 2019 under the government’s 5-6 billion USD programme, said Eriansyah.

In 2014, the transport ministry assigned the task of expanding 15 commercial ports to the four state-owned port corporations of Pelindo I, Pelindo II, Pelindo III and Pelindo IV, with a total investment of nearly 492.6 trillion rupiah (39.47 billion USD).

The ministry is working to develop non-commercial ports in remote areas to accelerate the development of transportation infrastructure.

Currently, Indonesia is home to 1,241 seaports, 112 of which are operated by the four Pelindo corporations and the rest are run by the transport ministry.-VNA