Chandra Asri helps small businesses

CILEGON, West Java(JP): PT Chandra Asri Petrochemical Center, Indonesia's largest producer of ethylene and propylene, has claimed to have established partnerships worth Rp 4.3 billion (US$1.8 million) with local small businesses here.

"We've awarded contracts on cleaning services, transportation and uniform tailoring for our workers to 10 local small businesses," Winata Tedjakusuma of Chandra Asri told the press here over the weekend.

Winata, who is in charge of the company's partnerships, said that currently, his company is trying to set up such a business- linkage with local small businesses for other services, such as transportation of its products and daily needs, as well as the recycling of its wastes.

Chandra Asri, which became the subject of controversy early last year due to its request for tariff protection from the government, is jointly owned by Prajogo Pangestu, President Soeharto's second son Bambang Trihatmodjo and three Japanese firms: Marubeni, Toyo Engineering and Showa Denko.

The chemical plant has been in operation since last May, with a production capacity of 510,000 tons of ethylene, 240,000 tons of propylene, 300,000 tons of polyethylene and 230,000 tons of pyrolysis gasoline.

The chemical plant was granted tariff protection of 25 percent for both its ethylene and propylene products after nine months of operation. (13)