Bulog swaps land with Goro in North Jakarta

JAKARTA (JP): Wholesaler PT Goro Batara Sakti is swapping its 75 hectares in Marunda, North Jakarta, for 50 hectares in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, owned by the National Logistics Agency (Bulog).

The barter plan was announced by Bulog Chief Beddu Amang after his meeting with President Soeharto yesterday.

Beddu said the Kelapa Gading site had contained one of Bulog's local warehouses. He said traffic jams around the site had caused problems for trucks carrying Bulog's commodities.

"We will build new warehouses in Marunda, which is near the (Tanjung Priok) harbor," Beddu said.

Goro, said to own Southeast Asia's largest wholesale outlets, opened its latest outlet in the elite Kelapa Gading residential district last Sunday.

The new store, owned by President Soeharto's youngest son and owner of the diversified Humpuss business group, Hutomo (Tommy) Mandala Putra, was opened last week by Soeharto.

Beddu said yesterday the land swap was underway, and that two hectares had already been given to Bulog. The land swap is expected to take about two years to complete.

He said most of Bulog's warehouses were between 20 and 30 years old, and capable of holding about 3,500 tons of food.

"We will get a new one (warehouse) in Marunda... and build a modern storage system with a capacity from 9,500 to 11,000 tons, all in one large warehouse," he said.

Beddu said the new warehouse would cost as much as building two 3,500-ton warehouses. He said it would be easier to unload trucks, weigh loads and move to and from the new warehouse.

"Unloading will be quicker and the port authority will no longer protest about the backlog of Bulog's commodities at the port," he said.

He was referring to media reports earlier this year which said port congestions at Tanjung Priok were being caused by stockpiles of Bulog's imports at the port.

"The planned warehouse will allow eight trucks to unload at the same time, even when it is raining," Beddu said.

He said Bulog was building similar warehouses in Serang (West Java), Surabaya (East Java) and Ujungpandang (South Sulawesi).

Each warehouse will have a capacity between 50,000 and 60,000 tons.

Beddu reported yesterday to Soeharto on Bulog's food stocks.

From January to October, Bulog procured 1.38 million tons of rice domestically. Bulog's rice stocks are now 2.48 million tons.

Bulog procured 1.83 million tons of sugar in the same period, raising its stocks to 832,240 tons.

Bulog also has 373,500 tons of wheat, 162,782 tons of flour and 174,532 tons of soybean. (pwn)