President Jokowi Inaugurates Mentawai Airport in W. Sumatra

President Jokowi inaugurates the Mentawai Airport in Mentawai Islands regency, West Sumatra province, Wednesday (10/25). (Photo by: BPMI of Presidential Secretariat/Rusman)

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on Wednesday (10/25) inaugurated the Mentawai Airport in Mentawai Islands regency, West Sumatra province.

President Jokowi stated in his remarks that the newly-inaugurated airport is expected to improve people’s mobility and attract more tourists.

“I hope that as the airport operates, people’s mobility will be easier, and the tourism potentials in Mentawai Islands can also be developed even better,” the President said.

More specifically, President Jokowi expressed hope that the surfing tourism in Mentawai Islands will grow even further, since ATR aircraft can also land at Mentawai Airport so that the number of tourists is expected to increase.

“We hope that the surfing tourism will continue to grow, and perhaps, planes from overseas can also land directly in Padang city or Mentawai Island,” the President stated.

Mentawai Airport is one of the outermost airports in Indonesia that is built to replace the Rokot Sipora Airport, whose runway is only 850 meters long and can only be used by a 12-person Cessna aircraft.

“Now with the newly-inaugurated airport, the runway is 1,500 meters long, with a width of 20 30 meters, and ATR aircraft can land directly on Mentawai Island now,” the President added.

President Jokowi also believes that the airport will have multiplier effects for the people due to its more open access. Besides, he expressed hope that new businesses will grow so as to improve the welfare of the local community.

“I believe that with more access to an area and better connectivity, the local community will gain a big multiplier effect and the opportunity to develop new businesses, and this is what we hope can improve the public welfare,” the President concluded. (BPMI of Presidential Secretariat/AIT)(SI/AW/LW)