The Director General of Sea Transportation, Director General of Industrial Relations Development and Manpower Supervision, and Deputy of Cooperatives and Small Medium Enterprises Institutional Affairs issued a revised joint decree (SKB) of the on fostering and developing a cargo handling manpower cooperatives (TKBM) in December 2011. In order to support the implementation of this decree and to increase port performance, the Directorate General of Sea Transportation (DGST) initiated a scoping study on Port Labour and Human Resources Development with IndII’s assistance. DGST subsequently hosted a roundtable discussion on 2 March 2012 attended by the Director General of Sea Transportation, Directors of Sea Traffic and Transport and Port and Dredging, Heads of Port Authorities, President Directors of Pelindo, Indonesia National Ship-Owners Association (INSA), TKBM Cooperative representatives and other stakeholders to present key findings of the study and suggestions for improvement. Points raised during the lively discussion included various ways to improve management and productivity, introduce competition and increase labour performance. DGST is planning to host socialisation events for the implementation of this decree in selected ports in Indonesia.
To increase the number of people with access to basic sanitation in Indonesia, the Directorate General of Human Settlement (DGHS) with support from AusAID through the Indonesia Infrastructure Initiative has developed a three year, A $40 million sanitation grant programme (Australia Indonesia Infrastructure Grants for Sanitation – sAIIG). On 24 February 2012, DGHS invited eleven LGs to a meeting at Grand Sahid Jaya hotel to review their level of readiness to participate in the programme in fiscal year 2012. Information concerning the required criteria and proposed programme were discussed in the meeting with officials from DGHS as the main speakers. In the meeting each LG had opportunities to raise questions, present their programmes related to sAIIG and propose inputs for the programme. As a result of the meeting DGHS assessed that six LGs were ready to proceed this year. The selected LGs are Banda Aceh, Serang, Yogyakarta, Lombok Timur, Hulu Sungai Selatan, and Banjarmasin.
Road preservation costs in Indonesia are considered to be quite high compared to the rest of the world. To achieve a whole-of-life cost optimisation for roads, new pavement and rehabilitation design standards and recycling supplements have been developed by the Directorate General of Highways (DGH), with support provided by the AusAID funded Indonesia Infrastructure Initiative. DGH held a three day workshop from 22-24 February 2012 at Sempur Park Hotel, Bogor for training of trainers in the use of the design manuals. Twenty five participants from the Sub Directorate of Technical Affairs throughout Indonesia attended the training and will be appointed as agents of change in their respective areas. Hedy Rahadian, Head of Sub Directorate for Road Engineering started the workshop by identifying seven key factors that need to be addressed to achieve better and more efficient roads. Some of these included road network master planning, reducing lifecycle costs, improved quality control and effective allocation of resources. The new pavement design guidelines are expected to be legalised by DGH in June 2012.
