Agrinas: Import of 160,000 Pickup Trucks from India, China, and Japan

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The President Director of PT Agrinas Pangan Nusantara, Joao Angelo De Sousa Mota, stated that the import of 160,000 pickup vehicles for the operational activities of red-and-white village/co-subdistrict cooperatives does not come solely from India, but also from China and Japan.

“All the vehicles have already been procured, totalling 160,000 units,” said Joao, when met at the Office of the Coordinating Ministry for Food, Jakarta, on Tuesday.

Further, Joao explained that his company opted for imports because the specifications of the pickup vehicles, which use a four-wheel drive system (4WD/4-by-4/4x4), are not produced in Indonesia.

“All the vehicles available here that are 4x4 are fully imported. There are no local productions, none,” he said.

He detailed the cargo vehicles from various automotive manufacturers such as Hino, Mitsubishi, and Isuzu from Japan, as well as the Chinese automotive manufacturer Foton, which are being imported along with thousands of trucks and pickups from India.

“The 160,000 units (of pickups/trucks) consist of 13,600 units from Japan or from Mitsubishi, 10,000 units from Hino (Japanese manufacturer), 900 units from Isuzu (Japanese manufacturer). Foton 13,000 units from China, and the rest coming from India,” said Joao.

Furthermore, Joao stated that the total budget for procuring these vehicles amounts to Rp200 trillion, sourced from the development allocation per red-and-white village/co-subdistrict cooperative of Rp3 billion.

However, regarding the data on the number of units already in Indonesia and ready to be distributed for the needs of red-and-white village/co-subdistrict cooperatives, Joao admitted he does not have precise data.

Previously, the Minister of Cooperatives, Ferry Juliantono, said that the distribution of imported trucks and pickups from India is expected to support the operations of the ready and completed red-and-white village/co-subdistrict cooperatives.

“There are already (trucks and pickups) that have been distributed to the red-and-white village cooperatives, and it seems they are already adequate and can be used to (support cooperative operations),” said Minister Ferry.

Furthermore, Ferry stated that the 105,000 trucks and pickups from India are being carried out in stages following the progress of the physical construction of the red-and-white village/co-subdistrict cooperatives.