Bank does nothing about Organda's debt

JAKARTA (JP): City-owned Bank DKI insisted on Monday that the bank could not compel bus companies, members of the city's Organization of Land Transportation Owners (Organda) to pay their debt amounting to Rp 56.3 billion (US$5.1 million).

The bank's credit unit head Thalim Mulyadi said that his bank had been assigned only to distribute the loan from Bank Indonesia to the bus companies.

"We cannot take any legal action, such as seizing the companies' buses. It depends on the central bank as the money lender," Thalim told reporters.

He stated that the bus companies had reported to Bank DKI that they were not able to pay the loan and would not object if the bank wanted to seize the buses bought from the central bank credit.

Organda's chairman Aip Syaifuddin said his organization's members were not able to repay the loan and had asked for a rescheduling.

"But if the bank wants to seize the old and damaged buses, it's okay," Aip said.

According to Aip, bus companies received the loan under the Central Bank's Liquidity Fund (BLBI) for maintenance and purchasing of bus spare parts, following the economic crisis which began to hit the country in mid-1997.

He said the companies had so far been paying the loan interest.

"We hope that we are allowed to reschedule the loan repayment to five years," Aip remarked.(jun)