Indonesia, German shipyard sign contract

Indonesia, German shipyard sign contract

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Ministry of Transportation has signed a contract with
German shipyard Meyerwerft for the construction and supply of a
passenger vessel to be used in Indonesia.

The contract was signed on Wednesday in the presence of
Minister of Transportation Agum Gumelar and German Ambassador to
Indonesia Dr. Fulda.

The ferry, which can transport more than 3,000 passengers, is
scheduled to be completed by September 2004.

The German government-owned credit agency, Kreditanstalt fuer
Wiederaufbau (KfW), will finance the project using soft loan
funds from the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation
and Development as well as its market funds.

The project will cost euros 74.6 million and have an interest
of 1.8 percent per annum, according to a statement from KfW.

Meyerwerft was awarded with the supply contract after winning
a competitive bidding in which four other German shipyards
participated.

The project is aimed at improving maritime traffic links
between the main islands of Sumatra and Java with the eastern
part of Indonesia, particularly, Sulawesi and Papua.

"With the onset of the economic crisis, sea bound traffic has
become even more important for Indonesia as nowadays only a small
minority of the population can afford expensive airline tickets,"
the release said.

KfW noted that between 1997 and 2001, the number of sea
passengers in Indonesia increased by more than 75 percent.

In 2001, state-owned sea transportation firm Pelni transported
more than 10 million passengers. Of that number, more than 95
percent used economy class, representing the majority of society,
KfW explained.

The new ferry will be operated by Pelni.

KfW has financed the previous 22 major vessels and two smaller
additional ferries of Pelni's.