BPS gets new soft loan worth $12.9b from Japan
BPS gets new soft loan worth $12.9b from Japan
JAKARTA (JP): The Central Bureau of Statistics announced on
Monday a new soft loan worth 1.4 billion yen (US$12.9 million)
from the Japanese government to improve its computerized system
of data collection.
BPS' head Soedarti Surbakti said the new loan provided by the
Japan Bank for International Cooperation would be used to buy new
computer equipment and finance computer training programs for the
agency's employees nationwide.
A total of US$5 million of the loan will be used to buy
computer equipment with the rest being used to finance the
training program for the agency's employees.
She said 400 employees of the agency from 310 branch offices
across the country would attend a training program at the
agency's training center in Lenteng Agung, South Jakarta, which
was opened on Monday. The said training program will last until
Nov. 23.
They will be taught by computer experts from the Bandung
Institute of Technology (ITB).
"The aim of this training program is to improve our employees'
skills in operating computers and high technology equipment,"
Soedarti told reporters after the ceremony to mark the opening of
the training program.
She said the putting into effect of a computerized system
would boost the accuracy and speed of BPS data collection and
distribution.
She said publicly-listed information technology company Astra
Graphia had won the contract to provide the BPS with computer
software and hardware.
"We have to upgrade our computer hardware and software. Our
computer software dates back to 1990," she said.
Astra Graphia said in a press release that it would provide
the agency with high capacity servers, personal computer
workstations, network design and implementation, printers, Local
Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN), Internet and
Intranet.
"This is our second project with the BPS. We joined the same
program in 1997," Astra Graphia's manager of communications Annie
Widjaja said, adding the company obtained the project through
competitive bidding.
JBIC's loan project officer Myra Lubis said that the Japanese
agency started financing the BPS computer program in 1994 and had
thus far provided a total of 3.027 billion yen in soft loans to
the BPS, including this year's loan of 1.4 billion yen.
The loan carries interest of three to 3.5 percent and a
repayment period of 30 years. (02)