| Opportunity to reopen seasand business has been made available by the fulfillment of reasons used for temporarily banning sea-sand export, namely maritime boundaries, marine environment, and pricing problems. With respect to the first reason, Indonesia and Singapore have reached agreements on their maritime boundaries in 1973 for the central part and in 2009 for the western part which was ratified in May 2010, while for the eastern part is waiting for an appropriate time to be negotiated. In this connection, Indonesian government has been convinced by Singaporean government that land reclamation which has enlarged coastal area of Singapore based on UNCLOS III will not change Singapore’s baselines position and furthermore will not influence maritime boundaries of both countries. With respect to the second reason, government and related stake holders through public-private partnership have formulated program for preserving and protecting marine environment in Riau Islands. Problem of sunken islands, such as Nipa Island, has been proved that it has no relation with sea-sand mining activities due to characteristic’s differences between sea-sand and island geology. With respect to the third reason, uncontrolled and unregulated pricing was actually the real problem which led to temporarily banning of seasand export. In dealing with the pricing problem of sea-sand export, government is planning to implement one gate policy. By reopening seasand business through implementation of one gate policy, Indonesia is expecting to be able to supply 1.8 billion m3 of seasand for eight years reclamation activities in Singapore. By supplying those needs with price of SingD 30/m3 (SingD 1 = Rp 6.000), Indonesia will generate gross national income from sea-sand export of approximately Rp50,35 trilyon per year within the period of eight years. Reopening sea-sand export will therefore enable government to finance national economic development in Riau Islands Province. |