President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo recently released the Government Regulation (PP) No. 64/2015 to amend the PP No. 61/2009 on Port. The amendment is supposedly a part of Jokowi’s plan to to speed up the development of port infrastructure. But if we look into the amended PP, we’d find that only thing changed was the provision on concession, i.e., the act of granting rights from the organizers of the port to the port enterprises to conduct activities in the provision and/or a specific port service within a certain period and with certain compensation.
The changes in the PP can be seen in the table below:
The extension of the concession of PT. Jakarta International Container Terminal (JICT) with Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH) has been rather controversial, involving JICT workers union throwing all sorts of accusations.
The workers union brought to fore the content of concession extension letter No. S-318/MBU/6/2015 dated June 9th, 2015, which they believe do not signify the approval of the extension of JICT’s principle concession license. The Union insist that the extension of the concession must consider the requirements stipulated in the Minister of Transportation letter No. HK.201/3/4 Phb 2014 related to the separation of the functions of regulator and operator.
JICT workers union would rather have the government follow the aforementioned Minister of Transportation letter, rather than the content of PP No. 61/2009. Now that PP 61/2009 has been amended with PP No. 64/2015, the government has the right to extend the concession to manage ports by assignment or direct appointment. It remains to be seen how the JICT Union would respond to this development,
By Pradnya Paramitha
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