Construction of oil and gas center proceeding apace

Construction of oil and gas center proceeding apace

JAKARTA (JP): Construction work is progressing rapidly at a building site on the Jl. Thamrin which will become Indonesia's first oil and gas business center.

The 32-story building project, on the site of the former office buildings of PT Caltex and the Oil and Natugal Gas Directorate General, is being developed by PT Petrobuild Indonesia under a 30-year build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract.

"As a member of OPEC and a major oil and gas producer in Asia, it is high time for Indonesia to have a presentable office tower as an oil and gas business center," Petrobuild's President Syarief Tando said yesterday.

The building, Tando said, will house not only the oil and natural gas directorate general but also oil companies operating in the country.

The project has obtained a US$100 million loan commitment from a syndication of state and private banks led by the Development Bank of Indonesia (Bapindo), he said.

During a visit to the project site yesterday Tando recalled that the idea of establishing a respectable oil and gas business center had been tossed around in the 1980s.

"But only after several companies, including the Bakrie Brothers Group and PT Medco, came up with a feasible proposal, could the idea progress to a reality," Tando added.

The Oil and Natural Gas Directorate General will own and manage the building after the expiration of the 30-year BOT contract.

"But even during the BOT contractual period, a total of 8,000 square meters of furnished office space at the new building will be provided, free, to the directorate general," he said.

The building is scheduled to be completed in 1997.

Tando said the oil and gas business center would provide a sophisticated satellite communications system, an executive club, medical center, teleconferencing facility and eight floors of car parking. (vin)