Merpati says govt approved its office project<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): PT Merpati Nusantara Airlines announced here
\nyesterday that the government has approved its new office
\nbuilding, and that the construction meets all legal requirements.<\/p>\n
The new building was officially opened by the president of
\nGaruda airline in early September.<\/p>\n
Merpati was responding yesterday to Director General of Air
\nTransportation Zainuddin Sikado's statement that the planned
\nreplacement of Merpati president Ridwan Fatarudin had nothing to
\ndo with his refusal to lease domestically made 16 CN-235-200
\naircraft. Sikado said the replacement of Merpati's president was
\ndue to the fact that the new building was constructed without
\npermission from the government.<\/p>\n
Sikado said, as quoted by several daily newspapers over the
\nweekend, that Ridwan had failed to toe the government line in
\nseveral instances.<\/p>\n
Defending his decision not to lease the planes, Ridwan said
\nearlier that the leasing rate was too expensive and the 14
\nCN-235-10s currently operated by the airline company had caused
\nit to lose money due to high operation costs.<\/p>\n
Sikado said late last week that one of Ridwan's gravest
\nmistakes was erecting the Rp 50 billion (US$24,700,000) office
\nbuilding without reporting to the ministers of finance and of
\ntransportation for permission.<\/p>\n
The law stipulates that the minister of finance is a nominal
\nshareholder of all state-owned companies and that Merpati is a
\nsubsidiary of the national flag carrier, Garuda Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Merpati's statement, which was signed by the head of its
\npublic relations department, A. Tondo Widodo, related the
\nchronological history of the construction of the new building.<\/p>\n
The project started in January 1991 when Merpati shareholders,
\nGaruda, approved the plan to buy a 6,6640-square-meter plot of
\nland for the site of its office. The decision was signed by M.
\nSoeparno, president of Garuda Indonesia, the company which owns
\nMerpati, and Merpati's president F.H. Sumolang and commissioner
\nHusaini Harbani.<\/p>\n
"Ridwan was appointed as Merpati president 18 months later on
\nAug. 2, 1992," the statement said.<\/p>\n
Several days later, Coordinating Minister of Finance and
\nDevelopment Supervision Saleh Afiff agreed to the proposal made
\nby Merpati's president that PT Wijaya Karya win the tender to
\nconstruct the building which was to be financed with loans from
\ndomestic banks.<\/p>\n
The proposal was officially upheld by Garuda in April 1993. In
\nSeptember of the same year, Garuda asked permission from the
\nministers of finance and transportation for Merpati to take out a
\nloan worth Rp 52.5 billion from Bank Danamon for the purpose.<\/p>\n
Two weeks later the Ministry of Finance, in a letter signed by
\nthe acting director general of state-owned company development
\nand the director general of financial institutions, stated that
\nany agreement on the matter could be decided by Garuda.<\/p>\n
The statement said that three floors of the 15-story building,
\nwhich was opened by Garuda's president Soepandi last month, will
\nbe rented out to outside business organizations in order to pay
\noff the bank loan.<\/p>\n
Up to last week one-and-a-half floors had been leased.<\/p>\n
Merpati's public relations chief said the statement was issued
\nto give a clear explanation about the construction of the office
\nbuilding. (tis)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/merpati-says-govt-approved-its-office-project-1447893297",
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