Day: January 13, 2023

The construction of Sepaku Semoi Dam to support the provision of clean water to the new capital (IKN) Nusantara has reached 82 percent completion, according to the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR).

“The construction progress of Sepaku Semoi Dam has reached 82 percent,” head of the ministry’s IKN infrastructure development task force, Danis Hidayat Sumadilaga, informed in North Penajam Paser District, East Kalimantan, on Friday.

He added that the dam will be one of the raw water sources for IKN Nusantara. It will be equipped with intake facilities and a water treatment plant (IPA). Sepaku Semoi Dam is targeted to be impounded in June this year.

The construction of the dam is also a part of the IKN Nusantara development project.

According to Sumadilaga, the availability of clean water is vital when building infrastructure. Therefore, the dam must be built first to support infrastructure development in IKN Nusantara.

Once the dam is completed, it will distribute clean water to the IKN area besides providing water for irrigation and serving as a tourism site.

He noted that the dam has the capability to distribute 2,500 liters of raw water per second, of which, 2,000 liters will be provided to IKN Nusantara and 500 liters to Balikpapan City. The dam is also expected to reduce flooding by up to 55.26 percent.

The work that has been carried out so far has included land inspection work and public facilities, main dam embankments, hydromechanics, upstream bridge work, downstream bridge work, and installation of area fences, Sumadilaga informed.

The cost of building the dam has reached Rp556 billion. The funds for its construction are being sourced from the state budget for the 2019–2023 fiscal year, with the implementation period being 2020–2023.

Source: Antara News

Indonesia has already begun its preparation for hosting the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit, which will take place in the country’s eastern province of East Nusa Tenggara in May, with the theme of “ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth.”

As Southeast Asia’s largest economy, Indonesia has taken over the chairmanship of the regional bloc for 2023 from Cambodia, where the ASEAN Summit was held last Nov. The country formally commenced its ASEAN chairmanship, on the first day of this year.

The last time Indonesia chaired ASEAN was in 2011.

Other ASEAN members had high expectations for Indonesia’s chairmanship, since the archipelagic country managed to host the world’s influential Group of 20 Summit last year, amid global challenges, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, that have led to an enduring global food and energy crisis.

After completing the G20 presidency on the island of Bali, one of the world’s best tourist destinations, in Oct, 2022, Indonesia has chosen its other tourist destination of Labuan Bajo, in East Nusa Tenggara province, as the location for the ASEAN summit.

Labuan Bajo, the gateway to the popular Komodo National Park, is one of the “10 New Bali” choices, a government-designated priority destinations spanning across the archipelago.

In past years, Indonesian President, Joko Widodo, said, developments on Labuan Bajo must be accelerated, as the tourism destination will host international events in the years to come.

Last week, Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, was in Labuan Bajo for a three-day-visit, as a part of her tour to inspect its readiness to host the bloc’s biannual summit. She reportedly visited some facilities, such as hotels, convention centres and tourist spots that will be used.

At the ASEAN Summit in Cambodia last year, the leaders of the group agreed “in principle” to admit Timor-Leste as their 11th member.

Minister Marsudi said on Wednesday that, Indonesia, as the ASEAN chair this year, is aiming to make the bloc strong and become a barometer of cooperation, that can contribute to peace, stability and prosperity in the region and the world.

With the theme “ASEAN Matters,” Indonesia is determined to make the group remain important and relevant to the people, both within and outside ASEAN.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

BEIJING/SYDNEY — A Boeing 737 MAX made its first passenger flight in China in nearly four years on Friday, marking a major milestone in the U.S. plane maker’s attempt to rebuild its business in the world’s second-largest aviation market.

The China Southern Airlines Co. Ltd domestic flight from Guangzhou to Zhengzhou departed at 0445 GMT using a MAX plane, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24.

The best-selling Boeing model was grounded in March 2019 after fatal crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia, but it returned to service around the world starting in late 2020 after modifications to the aircraft and pilot training.

“Boeing continues to work with global regulators and customers to safely return the 737 MAX to service worldwide,” the plane maker said. The company’s shares were down about 0.5% in U.S. premarket trading.

China is the last major market to resume flying the MAX amid ongoing trade tensions with the United States, and the return comes as domestic travel demand rebounds after China abandoned zero-COVID policies.

Foreign airlines began flying the MAX to China in October 2022, in a sign the first country to ground the model after the crashes was loosening its policies.

China Southern scheduled a return to commercial service for the 737 MAX in October 2022, but did not use it on the planned flights.

The airline did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Top Chinese customer

Chinese airlines had 97 of the narrowbody planes before the grounding, according to Cirium data in 2019. China Southern is the biggest Chinese customer for the model, with 50 on order, of which 34 have been delivered.

Boeing in October said it had another 138 planes manufactured for Chinese carriers that were in the United States waiting to be delivered. It said it had begun remarketing the jets to other carriers given there were no concrete signs that Chinese airlines would accept the planes in the near term.

China’s domestic aviation market had been depressed in 2022 because of sporadic lockdowns designed to quash COVID-19, but demand is rising now that COVID controls have been abandoned.

Citi analyst Jason Gursky said the return of the MAX was the first step for Boeing in normalizing its China operations and may open the door to deliveries of new planes.

“Boeing suggested at its November 2022 investor day that its long-term financial targets do not contemplate deliveries of new aircraft into China,” he said in a note to clients on Wednesday, adding that a change in that situation would make its targets significantly less risky.

Boeing has been lagging far behind Airbus SE in deliveries into the world’s biggest aircraft market, in large part because of the MAX grounding.

In 2022, Boeing delivered eight airplanes to China while Airbus delivered more than 100.

Boeing has been virtually frozen out of new orders from China since 2017, whereas state-owned airlines last year placed a mega-order for nearly 300 Airbus planes.

Both Western manufacturers also face a fresh challenge in the market from the Chinese-made C919 narrowbody jet that was certified last year, though it will take time to ramp up production.

Source: Voice of America