Bakrie to open plantation

JAKARTA (JP): The Bakrie Group plans to open a 100,000-hectare palm oil plantation in Riau under a nucleus-estate-and-small- shareholder scheme.

Bakrie chairman Aburizal Bakrie, who is also chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said in the Riau capital Pekanbaru on Saturday that his group will hold only a 10 percent stake in the plantation, while the other 90 percent will be held by local farmers.

"We will have meetings with related parties to prepare the plantation project," he said after opening the Riau chapter of the Chamber of Commerce, as quoted by Antara.

Aburizal said the group manages several palm oil plantations in Jambi, West Sumatra, West Kalimantan and North Sumatra.

Riau currently has a number of palm oil plantations operated by state-owned plantation companies and business conglomerates, including the Salim Group and the Sinar Mas Group.(01)