PON XX Papua, the Government Can Empower Tourism Buses and AKAP

The government is advised to use tourism buses and Inter-City Inter-Provincial (AKAP) to support the implementation of the XX National Sports Week (PON) in Papua.

The owner of PO Sumber Alam, Anthony Steven Hambali, said that with the unfinished condition of the Covid-19 pandemic, the procurement of new buses would certainly burden the state's finances. As a solution, tourism bus entrepreneurs and AKAP should be empowered, either through contracts or unit purchases.

“In general, we propose to embrace and help land transportation entrepreneurs who are currently hit by the pandemic. On the one hand, it can be an entrepreneur's solution, if it is contracted or purchased. From the government's side, of course this is a savings and the remaining budget can be used to deal with the pandemic or help other sectors," he said, Monday (28/6/2021).

As for the preparations for the XX Papua PON, which will take place on October 2-14, 2021, it continues. One form of support provided by the Ministry of Transportation is the procurement and rental of 428 buses. The bus will be used for the mobility of athletes from various regions and also the committee involved in XX PON.

When the PON activity ends, the Bus will be used for the benefit of the community as public transportation/pioneer transportation in Papua Province and its surroundings in accordance with the needs evaluation by the Regional Government. The hope is that it can support transportation and logistics and ultimately the economy in Papua province in the future.

Regarding the use of buses after XX PON, Anthony also highlighted that handovers to the Province / City / Regency without early planning and on target, usually end up with the bus stalling. This is due to operational constraints or the ability to manage.

Meanwhile, he continued, if the handover is made to Perum Damri and used as a pioneer bus, Damri should not allow it to be converted and operate in areas that have been served by the private sector, thereby disrupting the business ecosystem that is already running.

“If DAMRI is handed over, it must be agreed and clear for pioneer transportation. It cannot be converted and cannot be operated outside Papua," he added.

According to him, the proposals and solutions put forward can only be accepted if the goals are to save costs, help entrepreneurs, and use the budget for handling more important things. However, it would be a different matter if the Ministry of Transportation only did it for the sake of budget absorption, imaging, and the benefits received by certain parties behind this project.

Likewise, the owner of PO SAN, Kurnia Lesani Adnan, said that currently the government wants to help business actors in officially licensed public transportation, it is better to use and cooperate with existing ones without having to buy new ones. He also believes that procurement without careful planning will repeat the event of the stalling of 1,000 buses which were distributed to regions because they do not have an operating budget.

SOURCE: https://ekonomi.bisnis.com/read/20210628/98/1410730/pon-xx-papua-government-bisa-berdayakan-bus-pariwisata-dan-akap