Coca Cola relocates factory to Cibitung

JAKARTA (JP): PT Djaya Beverages Bottling Company (DBBC), a Coca-Cola bottling company affiliated with Coca-Cola Amatil of Australia, will soon start building a US$72 million plant in Cibitung, 38 km east of here.

An executive of Djaya Beverages said here yesterday that the plant, to be constructed on a 21.8-hectare area, will replace the company's current factory in Cempaka Putih, Central Jakarta, which has been operating on a 4.5-hectare area for 24 years.

The company's managing director, Vincent Monterola, said at the inaugural party for the plant's establishment that the new facility, which will commence operation in late 1996, will have a production capacity 3.5 times larger than the Cempaka Putih facility.

The party was attended by Minister of Industry Tunky Ariwibowo.

The Cibitung plant will have nine production lines with a combined capacity to produce eight million bottles per day.

"The new plant will be the biggest carbonated beverage manufacturing facility in the southern hemisphere. It will be one of the largest in the world," Monterola said, adding that the plant will employ about 2,200 people.

The plant will be equipped with a mosque and a medical clinic which will serve local residents, he said.

Coca Cola has been in Indonesia since 1932, while Coca-Cola Amatil joined Djaya Beverages in 1992. Besides Djaya Beverages, Coca Cola drinks, with trademarks of Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Sprite, Fanta and Hi-C, are also bottled in Indonesia by PT Coca- Cola Pan Java Group and PT Coca-Cola Tirtalina with their plants operating in various towns, including Medan, Padang, Tanjung Karang, Bandung, Semarang, Bali, Ujungpandang, Manado, Banjarmasin and Jakarta.

Richard Brooks of Amatil said that the Coca-Cola bottling companies employ about 6,500 people to serve 400,000 customers. (kod)