British loan extension accord signed

British loan extension accord signed

JAKARTA (JP): Great Britain signed an agreement here yesterday
for the extension of a soft loan of 80 million pounds (US$117.6
million) for Indonesian development projects, including modern
transportation systems, educational equipment and environmental
facilities.

Under the agreement penned by foreign minister Ali Alatas and
the British Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office, Alastair Goodlad, Indonesia will utilize the aid to
finance a double-track railway project linking Cikampek and
Cirebon in West Java and establish an Industrial Pollution
Prevention Technology Center in Jakarta.

Alatas said the planned pollution prevention center, which is
scheduled to operate within the next five years, will develop
Indonesia's technological capability to ward off industrial
pollution and will provide industries with technical services on
environmental pollution control.

Beside the Cirebon-Cikampek route, Indonesia is now doubling
the railway tracks between Depok and Bogor, and Cikampek and
Purwakarta, also in West Java.

The other projects to be financed with the British aid include
a traffic controller system in Medan, North Sumatra, procurement
of generators for diesel locomotives in Yogyakarta, the
improvement of railway tracks in the greater Jakarta area, the
development of marine navigational facilities, solid wastewater
treatment facilities in Jakarta and a research laboratory for
piston engine thermodynamics in Serpong, West Java.

Alatas said the British aid carries interest of 3.34 percent
and will mature in 25 years. (icn)