INDUSTRY.co.id - Kuala Tanjung - Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi targets March 2018 can be done "soft launching" Port of Kuala Tanjung, North Sumatra, so that it can be used as a stopover location on the international route and become income for national foreign exchange.

"The government asks that the development will continue and not until until March 2018 have to be soft opening," said Minister of Transportation Budi Karya to media crews in Kuala Tanjung, North Sumatra, Friday (24/11/2017)

It was delivered when he reviewed the progress of the construction of the Port of Kuala Tanjung.

Minister of Transportation said that the Port of Kuala Tanjung will be strategic and important as it faces directly to the Malacca Strait and Singapore and Malaysia.

Strait of Malacca, he said, as it is known to be a crowded international shipping lanes so solid that later the ship can be directed to the Port of Kuala Tanjung.

"Indonesia has three connecting ports namely Priok, Bitung and Kuala Tanjung," he said.

Minister of Transportation said that so far, many goods in Indonesia are not well coordinated, so for the port to use the port of another country.

For Indonesia, said Minister of Transportation, if the Port of Kuala Tanjung is already operating it will be a leap for Indonesia as a country that has an integrated port of international scale.

Port of Kuala Tanjung, he said, also has a strategic location because there are already around a number of industries such as Inalum and CPO factories.

To facilitate transportation, he said, the government is also building a railway line. "With the railway line can reduce congestion and accidents and more efficient and effective," he said.