Bukaka wins loading bridge contract
Bukaka wins loading bridge contract
JAKARTA (JP): PT Bukaka Teknik Utama, a publicly-listed
subsidiary of the Bukaka Group, has won a US$75 million contract
for the construction of 76 aircraft loading bridges for Hong
Kong's Chek Lap Kok airport.
"This is the biggest single contract we have gained for
aircraft loading bridges," Fadel Muhammad, president of the
group, told journalists yesterday.
He said Hong Kong's Provisional Airport Authority selected
Bukaka from among noted companies from Japan, Germany, Sweden,
The Netherlands and the United States.
Rahmat Ismail, a director of Bukaka Teknik, said that his
company was the only manufacturer of aircraft loading bridges in
the world to have obtained an ISO-9001 quality assurance
certificate.
Bukaka Teknik, which is concerned with the engineering and
manufacture of infrastructure-related products, sold 40 million
shares on the Jakarta and Surabaya Stock Exchanges last December.
Besides aircraft loading bridges, the company also produces
vacuum tank trucks, mobile rescue trucks, special trailers,
asphalt-mixing plants, rice-milling plants, oil-pumping units,
storage tanks, conveyor belts, ship loaders and unloaders, steel
towers, transmission lines, electrical power plants, runway
sweepers and aircraft re-fueling equipment.
Bukaka has exported a number of its products, including
aircraft loading bridges, to neighboring countries. It has
exported 142 loading bridges to China, Japan, Singapore and
Thailand.
Fadel said that Bukaka Teknik had negotiated an offshore
syndicated loan of US$55 million from foreign banks, with an
interest rate 1.5 points above the Singapore Inter-Banks Offered
Rate (SIBOR).
"The loan shows that the banks' confidence in Bukaka's
prospects has increased," Fadel said, adding that the money would
be used to strengthen the company's operating funds.
Suhaeli Kalla, vice president of Bukaka Teknik, said the
syndicated loan was being lead-managed by the First National Bank
of Boston, Kexim Asia Limited and L.F.C. Far East Ltd.
Executives of Bukaka Teknik will sign the syndicated loan
agreement today, Fadel said.(rid)