REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- There is no need to involve a task force for the supervision of imported salt to prevent its leakage in the domestic market, a maritime and fisheries observer said. "The job will be better handled by the Presidential Staff Office (KSP), rather than a new task force," Abdul Halim said here, Thursday.

According to Halim, if the supervision of the salt is done by the KSP, it would be easy to coordinate, because the institute could serve as a facilitator among the different ministries/institutions that deal with the problems related to imported salt.

Earlier, Director of Maritime Space Management of the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry (KKP), Brahmantya Satyamurti Poerwadi declared his office is coordinating with a task force to supervise imported salt movements. "At least seven parties will have to coordinate in connection with the salt import task force," Poerwadi said, Tuesday.

The seven parties are the KKP, the office of the Coordinating Minster for Maritime Affairs, the Trade Ministry, the Industry Ministry, the Finance Ministry, the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) and the Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) of the National Police Headquarters. 

The director general pointed out that the meeting among different agencies on December 27, 2016, estimated that some 226,124 tons of consumer salt will be imported in 2017. "The salt will not be imported all at once, but it will be carried out in three stages. The time of the importation will be then evaluated," he revealed.

Each stage of the importation will be evaluated to see whether there is enough salt stock at home. If it is enough, the import of salt will be stopped, he explained. 

Only the state-owned salt company PT Garam will be allowed to import consumer salt. It was also decided at the meeting to write to the state-owned enterprises ministry asking it to assign PT Garam the task of importing salt. "The job of the coordination task force is to manage data. So, the BPS is also involved," he mentioned, adding this way, there will be no longer any salt leakage to the domestic markets.

Poerwadi also explained that of the salt production target of 3 million tons in 2016, only 144,009 tons were realized. The stock until the end of the year 2016 was 112,671 tons. Therefore, in 2017, there will be a salt harvest at home, which is in line with the production target of 3.2 million tons, he believed. 

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