Batam Aircraft Maintenance delays project

Batam Aircraft Maintenance delays project

JAKARTA (JP): Batam Aircraft Maintenance, an aircraft
maintenance facility jointly owned by Indonesian and Singaporean
parties, has decided to delay launching its operations until the
end of this year from the original schedule slated for this
month.

An executive of the project, Suyatim A. Habibie, told The
Jakarta Post that the operation of the US$10 million project has
been delayed for technical reasons.

"We have rescheduled the project's development, especially the
apron construction. But we don't have any financial problems.
Everything is under control," he said.

Habibie, popularly called Timmi, refused to give more details
on the project.

The agreement to establish Batam Aircraft Maintenance was
signed in September 1994 by four Indonesian parties and a
Singaporean company.

The Indonesian parties include the state-owned aircraft
manufacturer PT IPTN, which is controlled by Minister for
Research and Technology B.J. Habibie, a brother of Timmi (with a
25-percent ownership); the YASAU foundation of the Air Force (20
percent) and Sempati Air (20 percent), a private airline owned by
several parties including businessman Mohammad (Bob) Hasan and
President Soeharto's youngest son Hutomo Mandala Putra.

The other Indonesian shareholder is PT Saltim Mitra
Corporation (with an ownership of 10 percent), a joint venture
between Liem Sioe Liong's Salim Group and Timmi's Timsco Group,
while the Singaporean shareholder is Singapore Aerospace (25
percent), an affiliate of the Singapore Technologies Holdings.

The idea for the establishment of Batam Aircraft Maintenance
was initiated in late 1991, while its agreement was signed three
years later after tough negotiations.

The project, now under construction on a 2.5-hectare area,
will cover a plot of up to five hectares with an investment of
about $30 million.

The 415-square-kilometer island of Batam, which is situated
some 20 kilometers southeast of Singapore, has been developed
since early the 1970s as an industrial and tourism center. The
Hang Nadim airport on the island's east coast has just been
expanded as an international gateway with a 4,000-meter runway to
serve both scheduled and chartered passenger and cargo flights
with jumbo jets.

However, analysts said that it will be hard for the Hang Nadim
airport to compete with Singapore's Changi Airport as an
international transport hub because the flow of goods and
passengers at the former is still low. (icn)