Govt hoped to raise toll road rates soon

JAKARTA (JP): PT Citra Marga Nusaphala Persada, a publicly listed tollway construction company controlled by business woman Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, is expecting the government to announce new toll road rates in the next two months.

"We expect that the government will announce a decision on toll rates at the beginning of September," a company director, Bambang Soeroso, said after the annual meeting of its shareholders yesterday.

Hardiyanti, the president of the company, which has established a toll road segment between Cawang and Tanjung Priok in Jakarta, recently proposed that the tollway rates be raised by between 25 percent and 50 percent to help it increase the accumulation of funds for loan repayment.

"The adjustment of tollway rates is important in relation to the private investor's investment for tollway construction," he said.

Bambang claimed yesterday that his company's plan can be affected if the government does not raise the tollway rates.

Citra Marga has projected a before-tax profit of Rp 114 billion in 1995 with the assumption that the government will raise toll rates.

During the first half of 1995, the company netted a before-tax profit of Rp 53.11 billion, as compared to Rp 36.9 billion during the same period of 1994.

Bambang acknowledged that the company is facing opposition to its proposal for the toll rate increase from the House of Representatives.

"People think that our revenues of Rp 290 million per day are profit but, in fact we use it to repay loans," he said.

Waiting

He said Citra Marga is waiting for the government's decision on the toll rate increase before operating the first phase of the tollway segment between Tanjung Priok and Ancol Timur in North Jakarta, the construction of which has been completed.

The government raised toll road tariffs in July 1992 by between 20 percent and 50 percent.

The rates for the tollway between Cawang and Grogol are between Rp 2,000 (about 89 U.S. cents) and Rp 4,000 -- depending on the size of the vehicles. Citra Marga, under an agreement, collects three quarters of the toll revenues and the state-owned PT Jasa Marga the remaining quarter. Jasa Marga built the majority of the tollway.

Citra Marga is currently preparing to construct four tollways: a 24-km Surabaya outer ring road from Tanjung Perak to Waru, a 114-km road between Sadang in Cikampek and Palimanan in Cirebon, both in West Java, a 21.45-km road linking Kota and Cinere in Jakarta and the Metro Manila Tollway in the Philippines.

Citra Marga, which is listed on the Jakarta Stock Exchange, is 22.01 percent owned by Yayasan Purna Bhakti Pertiwi, 17.79 percent by Jasa Marga, 13.21 percent by PT Bhaskara Duniajaya, 8.9 percent by state-owned steel company PT Krakatau Steel, 8.8 percent by PT Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa, 4.4 percent by Citra Lamtoro Gung Persada, 0.49 percent by cooperatives and 24.4 percent by the investing public.

Citra Marga's after-tax profit increased by 87.33 percent to Rp 58.11 billion in 1994 from Rp 31.02 billion in 1993, while its total assets rose 74.78 percent to Rp 1.1 trillion as of last December from Rp 632.23 billion as of the end of 1993.

At yesterday's meeting, Citra Marga announced its plan to distribute dividends of Rp 26.25 billion or Rp 52.5 per share from last year's profit. (31)