Kertajati International Airport

Coordinates: 6°40′09″S 108°11′28″E / 6.669167°S 108.191111°E / -6.669167; 108.191111 Kertajati International Airport is an airport under construction on the northeastern coast of West Java, Indonesia.^[1] Majalengka Airport is located in Majalengka Regency, around 90 kilometeres east of Bandung. It is being constructed to replace the Husein Sastranegara International Airport in Bandung, but also serve the area around Cirebon. The project is estimated to cost Rp.25,4 trillion. As of February 2011, the construction has not started, but they have cleared 1,800 hectares to build the airport, while 500 hectares is now ready to start the construction of airport. Meanwhile, the toll road that will give access to the new airport is now starting its construction in 2011.

Based on high resolution images of satellite, the project consists of 1,800 hectares Kertajati Airport and about 3,200 hectares Kertajati Aerocity, both is called Aerotropolis. The project is located north of the Cipali Toll Road and right of Cimanuk river.^[2]

Planned construction of the new Jakarta Karawang Airport has been put on hold and Majalengka Kertajati has been put on faster track, for completion in 2016,^[3] although the newest prediction, the airport will be finished at end of 2017 and starts operation in early 2018.^[4] While traffic has surged at both Jakarta and Bandung, the former was designed for 22 million but 2011 figures hit 51 million, similarly Bandung is handling more than double its capacity with no room for expansion. Soekarno–Hatta is planned to accommodate 60 million by 2014, by which it is expected to be straining under 100 million passengers. Karawang Airport also has problems related to land acquisition as its more densely developed than Kertajati.

Kertajati is planned with 3000 meter runways and 60 meter wide, can accommodate up to Airbus A380.^[4] There are also plans to extend it to 4000 meters. As for capacity, its capacity is planned for 12 million, but plans to boost it to 24 million are in the works.^[5]

Ahmad Heryawan, The current governor of West Java said the new airport would help ease traffic at Soekarno–Hatta International Airport in Jakarta, as well as from Husein Sastranegara International Airport which suffers from the same problems as Soekarno–Hatta International Airport. As of Jan 2014, Halim Perdanakusuma Airport has opened to scheduled flights, but has very limited throughput potential due to its boxed in urban location and lack of taxiways.

In 2009 the Australian owned Project Management company Allied Projects completed a feasibility study for the Kertajati International Airport Project and facilitated negotiations with funding providers for financing the project under a Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) contracting model. Despite accounts being opened in Singapore to receive the funding and a considerable sum of money paid to the local government to obtain a building permit, negotiations with local government officials broke down due to differences in control of the project funding. The appointed Project Director Mr Owen Henderson and Senior Consultant Dr Rini Tridiani pushed local government officials to sign an Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) based on a BOT contract that would see the facility ownership handed over to the local government free of charge after a period of 20 years, in which time the financiers would recover and make profit on their initial capital investment. Local government officials refused to agree to these terms instead wanting to control the funding themselves resulting in the project financiers withdrawing from the project.

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