Bakrie project in Uzbekistan

Bakrie project in Uzbekistan

JAKARTA (JP): PT Bakrie Communications Corporation, a
subsidiary of the diversified Bakrie Group, has installed 30,000
telephone lines in Samarkand, Uzbekistan Republic, the group
announced yesterday.

The new telephone lines were activated yesterday by the
group's chairman Aburizal Bakrie and Samarkand Governor Matiev
A.M. in Samarkand, Uzbekistan's tourist zone.

According to the group, Bakrie Communications Corporation will
finish installing 16,000 other telephone lines in the Uzbekistan
province of Shahrizab by the end of October.

Bakrie Communications Corporation plans to install 350,000
more telephone lines in four provinces -- Samarkand, Dzizak,
Kashkandarya and Sukhandarya -- by 1998.

The company owns 45 percent of Uzbekistan International A.O.,
a company responsible for developing telecommunications networks
in five regions of Uzbekistan.

Under a 25-year contract, Uzbekistan International A.O. is
expected to invest US$1.1 billion to install new
telecommunications networks and upgrade 1.7 million existing
telephone lines in five provinces of Uzbekistan. (icn)