IFC to finance estate projects in Kalimantan

JAKARTA (JP): The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has agreed to provide US$41 million in equity and loans to PT Kalimantan Sanggar Pusaka to develop oil palm estates and refineries in W. Kalimantan.

Under an agreement signed here yesterday, the IFC -- the World Bank's private-sector arm -- will give Kalimantan Sanggar $15 million in equity funds, a $20 million loan for its own account and a $6 million syndicated loan for an account with Bank Brussels Lambert.

Kalimantan Sanggar corporate secretary, Indradi Kusuma, said yesterday the IFC had also helped his company raise a $10 million loan from the German Development Bank.

"The project will expand our oil palm estates to 35,000 hectares," Kusuma said.

Kalimantan Sanggar, established 1988, is a subsidiary of the forestry-based Satya Djaya Raya Group, more popularly known as Lyman Group.

Kalimantan Sanggar will use part of the loans to develop 34,000 hectares of oil palm plantations under the government- supported nucleus estate and smallholder scheme in cooperation with transmigrant families and local farmers, Kusuma said.

The nucleus estate and smallholder project will help raise the living standards of more than 17,000 rural families, Kusuma said.

Kusuma quoted IFC's director for agrobusiness development Karl Voltaire yesterday as saying "we are pleased to be associated with a project that has a high development impact." (vin)