Dili, 24th, May 2024

President of APORTIL, IP, Mr. José de Oliveira Leong, Vice I Mr. Julio Saldanha Barreto, Vice II Mr. Leandro de Sena, and JICA Timor-Leste representative Mr. Keisuke Ujike and his team, as well as General Director of the Ministry of Transports and Communications Mr. Constantino Ferreira Soares, attended a 4th Joint Coordination Committee meeting with interested parties to discuss the Master Plan of Strategic Port Development in Timor-Leste.

Speech:

Based on the legal framework of the agreement between JICA and the Minister of Transport and Communications through APORTIL IP as the main partner and JICA who provided technical assistance to the project under the title Master Plan for Port Strategic Development in Timor-Leste for two years, starting from 2022 to 2024.

Timor-Leste as a majority country uses highways through the mountains and road access to the districts is still in the process of underdevelopment, therefore maritime transport is an important public transport, but our ports are in conditions that are not suitable for use.

Therefore, the creation of a strategic development plan for regional ports is included in the class of necessity and urgency to facilitate the movement of large cargo by sea to achieve the national strategic development plan.

The master port development plan is drawn up based on a legal framework. This plan will be a guide for the port administration and management process as a central and priority plan with a period of 15 to 20 years covering port use and maintenance with environmental impacts and port development.

Through the general plan of this port with objectives such as:

1. Draw up the general plan of the national port

2. Port development plans

3. Action plan to improve port operation and maintenance at APORTIL I.P

This joint committee aims to update the study team's project into a general plan and gain a thorough understanding of JICA's efforts concerning the port sector in Timor-Leste.

Before finishing, I would like to thank you for your attention and I hope that this can be successful so that this port is the best in the future to increase the economic development of Timor-Leste.