By : Salmon Kadepa )*
The inauguration of Ewer Airport is a concrete form of the government’s strong commitment during the era of President Jokowi’s leadership to continue to strive to provide good transportation services for all people in the Land of Papua without exception.
President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has inaugurated Ewer Airport which is located in Asmat Regency, South Papua Province. The inauguration by the Head of State took place on Thursday, 6 July 2023.
Of course, it is not without reason why the Government is building an airport in Asmat Regency. This is because the construction of transportation infrastructure in Cenderawasih is also one of the strong commitments and concrete evidence of President Jokowi’s work to be able to continue to provide good transportation services, especially for all people in Asmat Regency and its surroundings.
It is the strong hope of the Head of State that with the inauguration of the Ewer airport, it will be put to very good use to be able to meet all transportation needs, especially on air routes for all the people there.
It cannot be denied that the existence of an airport is a very important infrastructure. The reason is, when transportation infrastructure has been built, it will automatically be able to help with connectivity and connectivity between regions, both in districts, provinces and the need for connectivity and mobility between islands.
So that with the construction and inauguration of Ewer Airport itself, it will be able to accelerate the mobility of people and also the mobility of goods, if people in Asmat Regency want to ship goods or want to bring in certain goods from outside areas. And also can further open the isolation of an area.
The data shows that the airport in Asmat Regency is currently able to serve several flights in various regions, from Timika, Kamur to Merauke. Even for now itself, the airport is already actively operating, which every week goes to Timika with 2 (two) flights, then from Kamur in one week there are already 4 (four) flights and from Merauke there are already 4 (four) flights. ) flight times anyway.
President Jokowi is very confident and very optimistic that with the existence of Ewer Airport, he will be able to encourage an increase in tourism activities in Asmat Regency. In addition, the inauguration of the airport will also be able to further improve the economy in the community, so that in the future the people of Asmat Regency will develop and experience progress.
Not only does it aim to further improve welfare and the economy and advance the people in Asmat Regency, but also with the airport it is hoped that it will be able to further support and in general bring a lot of good impacts for the Province of South Papua so that it continues to experience improvement.
It cannot be denied, with the development so far that the airport in Asmat Regency has been inaugurated, according to President Jokowi this is something that is very important and has a very large role for various kinds of public transportation needs.
The mobility of people and goods will become faster, whether it’s going to or from Asmat to other areas. Moreover, indeed in Cenderawasih Earth itself, especially in that region it can still be said to have quite extreme terrain and so far the infrastructure there is still lacking.
There is no need to doubt the high concern of the Head of State for the easternmost province in Indonesia, because he is even the President who has made the most in-person visits to the Land of Papua when compared to other leaders.
In addition, since the era of President Joko Widodo’s leadership, many changes have been made, especially in the infrastructure development sector, in which he is very determined to replace the previous development paradigm. If previously it could still be said to be very Java-centric, now development in the country has become an Indonesia-centric paradigm.
In a sense, all corners of the archipelago will experience very evenly distributed infrastructure development so that there will no longer be social or economic disparities in society.
One other proof of how strong concern and commitment the Government has, especially since the era of President Jokowi’s leadership, is that he also continues to strive to provide the best, including in transportation services for the people in Papua with the inauguration of Ewer Airport in Asmat Regency.
)* The author is a Papuan student living in Bandung
