Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi has expressed his commitment to maintaining a seamless distribution of basic foods with the help of sea toll fleets so that their prices can continue to remain stable across Indonesia.
“We are ready to send rice, cooking oil, or other food commodities via sea toll ships with flexible routes. Adjusting to the needs in areas which are lacking, and we will rotate sea toll vessels to those areas,” he informed during a visit to Cipinang Rice Main Market here on Monday.
Dynamic sea toll route changes have begun, such as for shipping cooking oil via the Medan (Belawan) route to Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, he said.
As much as 1,200 tons or around 1.3 million liters of packaged cooking oil have been transported using the marine toll ship KM Kendhaga Nusantara 12 from Tanjung Priok Port, Jakarta, to areas such as Papua, Maluku, and East Nusa Tenggara.
The minister revealed that transportation sector stakeholders have initiated social responsibility programs as part of efforts to address the disparity in the price of goods, especially in eastern Indonesia, including a program urging people from Merauke, Papua, to learn about agricultural production in Sragen District, Central Java.
Through this program, it is expected that Merauke farmers can adopt rice cultivation and improve the quality of rice.
“Merauke has great potential, both in terms of land and human resources. We hope that Merauke can supply rice needs in Papua, Maluku, East Nusa Tenggara, and surrounding areas, so that it can reduce distribution costs if it has to be sent from Java,” he said.
The central government is also encouraging regional governments to subsidize the cost of distribution through land transportation using their regional budget.
He said he will coordinate with the regional governments through the heads of the Transportation Offices.
“For example, if there are lots of commodities such as eggs and onions in Brebes, then other regions can buy them in Brebes by subsidizing the transportation costs,” he explained.
Cipinang Rice Market was visited by the minister to ensure that rice prices remain stable amid inflation, which has plagued all countries on account of ongoing global turmoil.
“This collaboration is important to establish concrete measures in an effort to control inflation. God willing, if we do it together, the problem can be solved,” Sumadi remarked.
Source: Antara News