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)