Gatari to return forest ministry's helicopters

JAKARTA (JP): Private air charter company PT Gatari Air Service, owned by ex-president Soeharto's son Hutomo Mandala Putra, is to return the remaining five helicopters owned by the ministry of forestry and plantations as late as February 1999.

The ministry's secretary-general, Oetomo, said that Gatari had agreed to return one helicopter this month, one in December, two more in January next year and the last one in February.

"Gatari said that the choppers cannot be returned immediately because it has leased them to other companies," Oetomo told reporters.

The returned helicopters will be kept at the Atang Senjaya Air Base in Bogor, West Java, he said.

He said that the ministry demanded Gatari return the choppers in the same condition as when the ministry handed them to the company.

"Two of them currently cannot be flown and their spare parts are not complete. We demand Gatari repairs them completely before sending them to us," he said.

The ministry terminated its contracts with Gatari in September as part of the government's campaign to eliminate business dealings acquired through corruption, collusion and nepotism.

The ministry then demanded Gatari return all six helicopters by the end of this year.

In response to the ministry's request, Gatari returned one helicopter in September and promised to return the rest later in the year.

Oetomo said that in November 1980, the ministry bought 12 NBO 105 helicopters from state aircraft manufacturer PT Industry Pesawat Terbang Nusantara (IPTN) and one fixed wing Skyliner Skyfan aircraft, aimed at improving the ministry's operations.

The choppers were bought at 2.64 million deutschmarks (US$1.59 million) each while the skyliner was bought at $1 million.

Two of the helicopters were given to the National Police in 1981, one crashed in 1988 and the other one is in use at the Atang Senjaya Air Base.

In March 1990, the ministry signed a five-year contract with Gatari to jointly operate the ministry's eight helicopters and skyliner aircraft.

Oetomo said there was no specific explanation as to why the ministry chose Gatari to operate its helicopters.

"The reason, initially, was to operate the helicopters more efficiently and effectively, but in reality it has been neither efficient nor effective at all," Oetomo said.

The contract ended in March 1995, but it was neither extended nor terminated until September this year following the fall of former president Soeharto. During that time Gatari had returned three of the choppers on August 1997, March and September 1998. But the company still has the remaining five and leases them out to other parties.

Oetomo said there were several disputes between the ministry and Gatari which delayed the termination but he refused to reveal them, saying only that Gatari never reported the income from leasing the helicopters to other parties to the ministry.

"We are still working out a settlement," he said.

Oetomo said that the ministry would employ Air Force personnel to fly the helicopters after they were returned.

"Employing Air Force personnel to operate and handle the maintenance would be cheaper than using Gatari," He said. (gis)