Bakrie to invest $1b in Uzbekistan

Bakrie to invest $1b in Uzbekistan

TASHKENT (Reuter): Indonesia's Bakrie Group plans to invest
around US$1 billion in the Central Asian nation of Uzbekistan
over the next five years, the company's country director said
yesterday.

Most of the money would be invested in telecoms, Bakrie's
director for Uzbekistan, Robert Sutrisno, told Reuters in an
interview.

Earlier this year, Bakrie and Uzbektelekom formed a joint
venture company, Uzbektelekom International, of which
Uzbektelekom holds 51 percent and Bakrie 49 percent.

The joint venture plans to build and repair 220,000 telephone
lines in four regions in the former Soviet republic, with
investment of around $220 million.

Bakrie will also put $438 million into Buztel, a company
consisting of 100 percent foreign capital, to establish 115,000
GSM standard mobile telephone lines and 385,000 fixed overlay
cellular lines.

"We hope to take the leading position in the development of
fixed overlay cellular lines in a fast growing city like
Tashkent," Sutrisno said.

He said Bakrie and the country's communications ministry were
also negotiating a project for the production and use of ARTS
(advanced rural telecommunications system) equipment outside
major cities in the republic but did not say how much would be
invested in the project.

Sutrisno said his company would also bid for the tender to
rebuild Tashkent's shaky telephone system.

Old Soviet-era telephones and mechanical exchanges in the
republic of 23 million make it a challenge even to place calls
within the capital.

"Taking account of the good investment climate in Uzbekistan,
Bakrie is also interested in joint ventures in tourism, energy
and the republic's chemicals industry," said Sutrisno.

Bakrie subsidiary Bakrie Communication Corp already has a 40
percent stake worth $6 million in AO Tashkent-Taksofon, founded
to develop payphones in the Uzbek capital over the next 25 years.

Sutrisno added the group has taken a 25 percent stake in the
state-owned Akola Bank and invested in the luxury Le Meridian
Hotel in Tashkent.