Lombok Int'l Airport to Operate Soon

LOMBOK: sasakworld- West Nusa Tenggara or NTB province near Bali Island will soon see the completion of its Lombok International Airport that can also accommodate Air Bus 330 or Boeing 767 aircraft.

Lombok International Airport (BIL), located in Tanah Awu, Pujut sub-district, Central Lombok district, is about 40 kilometers south of the old Mataram Selaparang Airport.

The BIL worth 945.8 billion rupiah has a passenger terminal measuring 21 thousand square meters or four times wider than that of Selaparang Mataram Airport which is only 4,796 square meters. One US dollar is about 8,000 rupiah.

The operational and technical director of state-owned airport management company PT Angkasa Pura-I, Haryoso Catur Prayitno, said in Central Lombok recently, the BIL’s passenger accommodating capacity is three million passengers a year with a parking area of 17,500 square meters, while Selaparang airport’s parking lot is only 7,334 square meters.
In addition, the BIL has a runway of 2,750 meters x 40 meters square, so it can accommodate ten Air Bus 330 or Boeing 767 air planes, Haryoso said. The Lombok International Airport, according to Harsono, is located on 551 hectares of land, which is about 40 kilometers south of Mataram Selaparang Airport.
Haryoso made the statement when accompanying the NTB governor M Zainul Majdi at time of inaugurating the accelerating program of the road infrastructure development in Praya, Central Lombok district on Saturday. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is expected to inaugurate the Lombok International Airport on October 1 this year, the governor said.
"The president will inaugurate the airport. He even has asked the state secretariat to manage a two-day lodging in Central Lombok," the governor said.
The governor knew the president’s readiness to inaugurate the international airport when he met President Yudhoyono at the presidential palace in Jakarta on July 21, 2011. His meeting with the president at the moment relating to the matters of governance and development in the region.
Governor M Zainul Majdi is chairman of the Democratic party provincial executive board, while Yudhoyono is the chief patron of the ruling Democratic party. In addition to inaugurating the airport, the president is also expected to have meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister which will take place in Central Lombok district.
In the meantime, Vice President Boediono when visiting NTB province on July 11, asked the airport management company PT Angkasa Pura-I, Haryoso Catur Prayitno to accelerate the airport construction development.
"The sooner is the better," the vice president said, adding that the Lombok International Airport is important for the NTB’s economic development, especially relating to the provincial wish to prioritize the tourism development.
"I feel since the beginning that this is the key point for NTB’s further development. It’s very strategic, especially when tourism is managed as the provincial focus of attention, so airport is very important," Boediono said.
The Vice President then got around the Lombok International Airport terminal building that is still unfinished yet.
"God willing, on September 30, everything is finished so it can be fully operated on October 1," Haryoso said, explaining that the airport simulations will be conducted on September 5-8, 2011.
Actually the Lombok International Airport was initially expected to be operational in July 2011, but it was postponed due to the expansion of the airport terminal area from 14,000 square meters to 21,000 square meters. Thus, the BIL project work was increased.
NTB has a number of tourist resorts, among others the Senggigi beach, Cakranegara, Gili Air, Gili Meno, Gili Trawangan, Gili Bidara, Gili Lawang, Narmada park and Mayura park. Apart from that, Mount Rinjani, Kuta Beach Lombok, the water falls of Sendang Gile, Tiu Kelep, Benang Stokel, Benang Kelambu.
The Lombok Island topography is dominated by the Mount Rinjani (3,726 meters above sea level) which is the third highest in Indonesia. Aside from that Lombok also offered its culinary including "Ayam Taliwang" or a kind of fried chicken and "Plecing Kankung", vegetable like sauteed kale which can lure more tourists to come.
In many ways, Lombok is similar to Bali, and foreign tourists began recognizing Lombok in the decade of the 1990s. About 80 percent of the Island population is the Sasak tribe, a tribe that is still close to the Balinese ethnic, but mostly converted to Islam.
The remaining population is Balinese, Javanese, Chinese and Arabic. With lots of tourism potentials, the NTB province has a dire need to have an international airport because the aviation transport limitations has so far become one of obstacles to develop tourism sector in this province towards the Lombok-Sumbawa 2012 Visit. The Lombok-Sumbawa 2012 Visit has targeted as many as one million tourist arrivals in this province.

The National Land Agency (BPN) has been accused of giving ownership papers for the islets off Lombok island,

This photo taken on July, 2010 shows tourists resting on a small island located in West Lombok. Indonesia is to investigate the illegal sale of 13 islands in the latest of a series of corruption scandals in one of Asias most popular tourist destinations, officials said on May 5, 2011. The National Land Agency (BPN) has been accused of giving ownership papers for the islets off Lombok island, near Bali, to a number of individuals and companies, West Lombok administration spokesman Ispan Junaidi told.

How to Indulge Yourself while Being in Lombok

Lombok island located in West Nusa Tenggara is almost head-to-head with its neighbour island, Bali, in competition of attracting foreign and domestic tourists. Lombok can be categorized as one of the compelete tourist destinations with its fantastic natural resources starting from Mount Rinjani to exotic and rarely visited beaches including Kuta beach, Aan Cape, as well as the attractive small islets (known as gili).
There are six ways that can be applied by backpackers or non-backpackers to maximize fun of having a vacation in the island.
1. Be well-prepared with itineraries. Spontanities in preparing them sometimes can be more exciting but they are supposed to be the subject to skip if you only have time contraints to have a vacation. Find as much as possible the information of destinations from internet such as accomodations, transportations, distances and durations of visiting one place to the others. Doing them will hinder you from conflict of ideas or spending time on discussing destinations especially if you take the vacation in groups.
One of the sites, www.visitlomboksumbawa.net helps you find the information on festivals usually held in Lombok. As an example, Malena Sapi (cow race) is held this month in West Lombok and Senggigi Festival is held in Batu Layar village, Lobar regency, West Lombok.
2. It takes more money if you have to rent a car compared with taking a public transportation in Lombok such as Bemo (shuttle bus) or Cidomo (horse cart). An 8-hour car rent of Avanza provided with its driver can be charged for local rate at Rp300,000. The service will enable you to reach areas not served by public transportations as bemo or cidomo are rarely found in Mataram and mostly found out of the city.
The car rent also offers a free of charge tour guide service besides a driver. The drivers know very well the tourist attractions mostly visited by tourists or places rarely visited but abundant with spectacular natural resources as they are natives of the local areas. Don't forget to get the fixed rate of the service to prevent you from having arguments when paying the bill after using the service.
3. Extra cash needed. No charges for entering handicraft centers in Banyumulek Village, Sasak tribe traditional village, Sade village, and Lingsar castle. However, there will be boxes of donation placed at several places that need your volunteer contributions of around Rp5,000-10,000 to help develop local villages.
The amount of money will be needed for volunteer payment of local tour guides that are able to tell you in details of stories and histories on local tourist attractions. That's why it's necessary to prepare small changes of Rp5,000-10,000.
4. Drop by the rarely visited places when taking a trip around Lombok Island as there are many unique places to explore besides common places visited by tourists. Thefore it is necessary to leave as early as 7 in the morning to make sure you have enough time to explore the places. During the time, you can take a view of Sasak farmers planting seeds of paddy in the morning mist. The rising sun shining the greeny paddy fields completes the lovely view.
The moment can be taken by photographers who want to get the scenes of farmers planting paddys, male farmers cultivating fields, as well irregular buyers purchasing dry unhusked rice from farmers. You can take time mingling with locals by greeting and introducing yourself to them. Gradually they will find the comfort to share with you about their daily life and activities as Sasak farmers. If lucky, you will be invited by them to have breakfast on the edge of paddy fields by them.
Stop by the open traditional markets located at road sides. There are days, Mondays and Thursdays, in which all traders from the whole regions of Lombok gather at spots such as Sengkol market, Central Lombok.
5. Be ready with sunblocks. Lombok island is well-known for its exotic beaches lying from West Lombok to South Lombok. Senggigi Beach and three gili lie; Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno, and Gili Air, lie in West Lombok. While fascinating beaches; Kuta, Tanjung Aan and Mawun beach, lie in South Lombok.
There several kinds of activities that you can do on the beaches such as sunbathing, snorkeling, diving, as well as surfing. Sunblock is compulsory to carry along as scorching sunshine on the beaches can get you sunburn. At least by applying sunblock, you do not have to be bothered thinking about being sunburn and can have more fun doing kinds of activities on the beaches.
6. Be ready to have parties on Gili and Senggigi! Night festivities in the island are minimal, not like the ones in Bali popular with its 24-hour festive life. The center of city looks quiet from sort of activities starting at 10 pm.
However, if you still insist on spending the night life in Lombok, you can head to Senggigi where dozens of cafes, karaoke pubs, as well as seafood restaurants are open till late at night.
Enjoy the beauty of night life if you happen to stay in Gili Trawangan. Tourist will be lured by festivities and music entertainment and they can dance to their hearts' contentment until morning comes. Sabrina Asril

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