Indonesia to produce railway locomotives

JAKARTA (JP): General Electric of the United States will set up a joint venture with state-owned Indonesian companies to produce railway locomotives here, an executive says.

Charles "Chuck" E. Dana, a director of PT General Electric Teknologi Indonesia, a subsidiary of General Electric of the U.S., was quoted yesterday by the Kompas daily as saying in Washington that the joint venture would be established with a paid-up capital of US$8 million.

He said the venture would be 35 percent owned by PT Inka, the state-owned railway equipment manufacturer; 6.5 percent by both the state-owned aircraft manufacturer, PT IPTN, and the state- owned shipbuilding company, PT PAL; 26 percent by General Electric Teknologi Indonesia; and 32.5 percent by General Electric.

Dana said the planned joint venture would establish a plant at Inka's industrial complex in Madiun, East Java.

Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto, who was in Washington for an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum meeting, said that it was high time Indonesia operated its own locomotive manufacturing plant to meet domestic demand.

"By 1999, the state railway firm Perumka will need 50 new locomotives, of which 15 will be constructed next year," he said.

"With a growth of 10 percent a year, Perumka will need at least 10 to 15 locomotives a year," he added.

Dana said that next year the joint venture would build 15 locomotives of the DC/DC type, equipped with 2,000 horsepower engines.

He said the planned joint venture is expected to procure some components from domestic suppliers.(31)