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The Thousand Islands district in North Jakarta is hoping an airstrip — however small — will encourage tourists to come and enjoy its white sandy beaches.

A workshop on Tuesday, aimed at accelerating tourism in the district, discussed plans to revive the construction of an abandoned airstrip on Panjang Island.

Didin Junaidi, Indonesian Marine Tourism Association secretary-general, said the reconstruction of the airstrip was needed because water transportation was slow and still lacked safety requirements.

“Tourists want to have comfortable, speedy and safe transportation,” Didin said. “We are hoping there will soon be a plan for the reconstruction of the airstrip.”

Opened in 1986, the airstrip’s 950-meter runway served charter flights run by PT Pelita Air Service until 1997.

Since then, the airstrip has remained effectively abandoned, said Sahat Sitorus, head of the Thousand Islands Tourism Office.

In 2006, the regional government tried to rehabilitate the facility by extending the runway to 1,400 meters, however the plan stalled after allegations emerged that the project consultant had embezzled Rp 1.3 billion ($140,400) from the project.

Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo, who attended the workshop, said he supported the initiative, but he wanted the project to be evaluated thoroughly.

“Please make sure that we know who our target market is. Because the island can only accommodate charter flights, and charter flights are very much dependent on the tourism activities on the islands.”

He also said that stakeholders, in this case the regional government, resort owners and the city’s culture and tourism agency, should work together to increase and promote the islands’ potential.

“We should also look into the possibility of having the islands be a place for MICE [Meeting, Incentive, Conference and Exhibition] events.”

However, Bambang Erwan, head of public communication at the Ministry of Transportation, said the Thousand Islands district did not fulfill the criteria to have state-subsidized flights for two reasons.

“The islands can still be reached by water transportation, and furthermore to accommodate tourism is not the main purpose of such flights,” he said.

“The renovation of that airstrip will be costly. The previous construction was planned to cost at least Rp 160 billion,” Bambang said.

“The provincial government has to study the market carefully, considering possible routes. Will it only serve flights from Jakarta, or other places as well? It will be a waste if the airstrip is rebuilt and no planes ever come there, such as what happened in Cilacap, [in Central Java].”

The Thousand Islands district consists of about 110 islands, with 30,000 inhabitants.

Only 11 of the islands are inhabited and about 10 more are used as resort islands.