REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, PALU -- The provincial marine and fishery office of Central Sulawesi said it will utilize local shipyards to build big fishing boats financed with fund from the budget of the marine and fishery ministry.

"Five of 18 fishing boats we plan to build this year will be built by local shipyards in the village of Kolobawah, in the sub-district of Morowali Utara," head of the provincial marine and fishery office Hasanuddin Atjo said here on Monday.

Hasanuddin said it would be the first time local shipyards are involved in the construction of a 30-GT ships to cost around Rp1.5 billion each on the average.

Three years earlier, such ships for Central Sulawesi were built by shipyards in Balikpapan of East Kalimantan.

"We started with an order to build five ships as an experiment . If the shipyards could build the five ships as scheduled with quality as expected they could be entrusted with more jobs in the coming years," he said.

The cost of building the ships is around Rp1.5 billion per unit including for the machine and modern fishing gears.

The fund would be provided by the the marine and fishery ministry from its annual budget in 2014.

The cost of the five ships , therefore, would cost Rp7.5 billion, Hasanuddin said.

"It would be a significant cash flow to drive the economy in the village of Kolo Bawah this year," he said.

Head of the fish catch division of the marine and fishery office Johanis Riga said it was for the first time local shipyards are involved in the construction of big ships as only this year the province has shipyards having the status of corporate body.

"We could not give jobs to shipyards having no official status of corporate body. It happens that two shipyards already have the status of corporate body and they are considered to have met the requirements to take part in the tender to be awarded the project," he said.

The provincial marine and fishery office of Central Sulawesi has been entrusted by the marine and fishery ministry to build 30-GT fishing vessels and modern fishing gears under a program of the ministry.

Under the program since 2011 the allocation for the province was five ships a year, up to 7 ships in 2012 , to 15 units in 2013 and to 18 units in 2014.

"This year, Central Sulawesi becomes the province to receive the largest assistance in 30-GT fishing vessels after its success in carrying out projects in previous years," Riga said .

He said the implementation of the program had contributed to improving the welfare of the local people.

Three of the 18 ships allocated for the province are made of fiber material to be built in the Banyuangi shipyard , in East Java, 10 other units are from wood built in the Penajam shipyard in Kota Balikpapan, East Kalimantan and five other units are to be built in the shipyards of Kolo Bawah, in the regency of Morowali Utara.

The vessels would be granted to groups of fishermen in December 2014, including 4 units in the regency of Tolitoli, 3 units in Banggai, two units each for fishermen in Morowali, Banggai Laut, Donggala and Parigi Moutong and one each in the regencies of Poso, Tojo Una-una and Buol.

The ships are under construction and in Kolo Bawah, regency of Morowali Utara, ship construction by local shipyard is almost completed.

"Hopefully work would be finished in October," Hamzah, the owner of the shipyard in the village said.

The project is to be completed in December this year, according to the contract.

The ship is made of high quality wood with technical specifications as required in the contract .

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