Tangguh LNG takes initiative in providing water taxi in Bintuni Bay area

May 6, 2019 440 Views

JAKARTA (RambuEnergy.com) – BP Tangguh, the operator of the Tangguh LNG in West Papua, has taken an initiative to provide and support the operation of SUBITU Trans Maritim, a water taxi service, which is a new transportation method in Bintuni bay, West Papua.

SUBITU Trans Maritim (STM) is one of the indigenous enterprises, particularly in sea and river transport, initiated by Tangguh LNG. This enterprise development program is fully supported by the Teluk Bintuni regency government, the Bintuni port authority, and Upstream oil and gas regulator SKK Migas.

In its initial stage, STM will operate three commercial boats as water taxi, BP said in a statement recently.

These water taxis will serve passengers in coastal villages such as Bintuni, Arandai, Tomu, Sebyar, Taroi, Weriagar, Mogotira, and Kalitami. The boats’ routes and traffic will be discussed and determined at a later date by the Teluk Bintuni government.

The general operations of SUBITU Trans Maritim will be run by indigenous people from the seven tribes of Bintuni. Following the launch last month, STM has set a schedule to carry out a service trial and familiarizations to communities from May 1-31, 2019.

During trial period, passengers can travel on the boat for free. However, they are required to register themselves for a seat at STM office. The launch of SUBITU Trans Maritim continued the success at four other SUBITU businesses – SUBITU Kreasi Busana (SKB), SUBITU Karya Teknik (SKT), SUBITU Inti Konsultan (SIK), and SUBITU Mart.

The establishment of these SUBITU businesses are part of the Tangguh sustainable development programme, in line with the commitments from Tangguh train 3 environmental and social impact analysis. All four SUBITU enterprises have recorded increasing profits since their establishment. (*)