APP builds pulp mill in KL

APP builds pulp mill in KL

KUCHING, Malaysia (JP): North Sumatra-based PT Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) will team up with Malaysia's Sarawak Timber Industrial Development Corporation (STIDC) to establish a pulp and paper production mill in Sarawak.

Ali B. Yusop, an official of the Sarawak State Forests Department, told Indonesian reporters visiting here this week that the mill's construction will be based on a memorandum of understanding signed last year.

The mill will have an annual production capacity of 750,000 tons of pulp and paper.

However, Ali was uncertain on when the project would begin as negotiations were still going on.

He said the new joint venture -- Borneo Pulp and Paper -- would be based in Bintulu, Sarawak.

The mill will be established with an investment of M$3 billion (US$1.2 billion), of which 60 percent will come from APP and the remaining 40 percent from the STIDC, he said. (pwn)