DAMRI expands to Malaysia and Brunei
DAMRI expands to Malaysia and Brunei
JAKARTA (JP): The state-owned land transportation company DAMRI will start servicing eastern Malaysia and Brunei next year, an executive said here yesterday.
"We will use our buses to link the three countries in the second quarter of 1996," the company's director for operations, Syafrudin, told The Jakarta Post.
He explained that the buses will use the Pontianak-Kuching- Bandar Seri Begawan route to link the three neighboring countries.
Damri serves the 400-kilometer Pontianak-Kuching route once a day in eight hours.
The distance between Kuching and Bandar Seri Begawan is about 700 kilometers.
Syafrudin said that the agreement was signed last September in Zamboanga, the Philippines, by senior land transportation officials from Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.
He added that DAMRI has had six buses running from Pontianak in West Kalimantan to Kuching, the capital of Malaysia's state of Sarawak, since 1993.
"We operate two buses with a load factor of 60 percent daily on the 400-kilometer route from Pontianak to Kuching," he said.
The bus fare is Rp 35,000 (US$15.18) per passenger.
Indonesian citizens leaving the country for Kuching or Bandar Seri Begawan have to pay an exit tax of Rp 50,000, he said.
"DAMRI passengers, most of whom are from Singkawang, West Kalimantan, do not need to obtain a visa before traveling to Malaysia and Brunei," he added.
DAMRI will also operate five trucks for transporting cargo from Pontianak to Brunei when the passenger link opens, said Syafrudin, adding that the demand for the transportation of cargo is growing, particularly for Jepara carved-wood and rattan products.
DAMRI's chief executive, Darius Djana, was quoted by Antara yesterday as saying that his firm will add 100 buses to its current fleet of 1,680 buses and 20 trucks.
Darius said that the new Mercedes buses procured from three private companies yesterday will be available in 50 days.
The three companies, which will supply the air-conditioned buses with toilets, are CV Laksana, PT Mekar Armada and PT Restu Ibu.
The new buses will be used to transport travelers during the Idul Fitri holiday in mid-February.
He said that DAMRI plans to add 600 more buses over the next five years.(kod)