GE and IPTN set up new venture for gas turbine

JAKARTA (JP): PT General Electric Technology Indonesia (GETI), a subsidiary of the American General Electric (GE), signed an agreement yesterday with PT Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara (IPTN) to set up a joint venture to provide repair and maintenance services of power generation turbines.

The agreement was signed by IPTN's director of finance, Azril Fitri, and GETI's president, John Oliver, in a ceremony attended by IPTN's vice chairman, Giri S. Hadihardjono, and the visiting president of GE Industrial & Power Systems for South Asia Pacific region, Donald M. Kusza.

The new joint venture, called PT General Electric Nusantara Turbine Services (GENTS), will be 51 percent owned by IPTN and 49 percent by GETI, Giri said.

"The new company, which will base its activities in Bandung of West Java, will operate with an authorized capital of US$3.5 million, he said.

For the initial operation, the new company will use IPTN's existing center for the repair and maintenance of aircraft engines and gas turbines -- Universal Maintenance Center, he said.

The company will construct a state-of-the-art facility on a 1,500-square-meter area, that will be capable of providing plasma spraying and vacuum heat treatment for gas turbines, he said.

Operation

The facility is expected to be operational by 1996, he added.

Kusza told reporters after the ceremony that his company will provide maintenance services for gas turbines used by companies operating in power generation, the oil and gas industry, fertilizer production and aviation.

GE is estimated to have sold over 100 gas turbines to the country's power plant industry.

Yesterday GE also signed an agreement with the new venture for facilitating the transfer of GE's technology to the Indonesian party.

The technology transfer deal was signed by a visiting GE executive, Andrew White, and GENTS' president, Les Makiewicz.

Giri said the establishment of the new venture is part of the commitments of GE and the Indonesian Agency for the Management of Strategic Industries to develop the country's gas turbine maintenance center and to set up a new plant for manufacturing gas turbines for the domestic market.

The investment of the manufacturing project is estimated to reach $2 billion.

Last month, GE also signed another joint venture agreement with the state-run railway company, Perumka, for producing locomotives. (fhp)