IPTN to go ahead with passenger jet project
JAKARTA (JP): State aircraft manufacturer PT Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara (IPTN) has said it will go ahead with its plan to build Indonesia's first passenger jet despite the current monetary crisis.
IPTN chief project officer Ilham Akbar Habibie said in Bandung Friday that there was no reason to delay the US$2 billion N-2130 jet program which began in 1994.
"We will continue this project. The project has now reached the full design stage, and the design has been tested in wind tunnels abroad," Ilham told Antara.
He made it clear that IPTN had no reason to postpone the project, especially since development and marketing would cover a span of 20 years.
Ilham firmly denied the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had demanded the delay of the jet project or listed it as part of the deal to support the IMF-led bailout program.
The government has entered an agreement to secure an IMF-led international financial bailout package worth $40 billion. As part of the deal, Indonesia has to clean up its banking industry, cut back state-related projects and create at least a 1 percent surplus in the 1998/1999 State Budget.
The government agreed to reschedule a series of high-profile projects as part of reforms hammered out with the IMF, but the country's local plane industry was left off the chopping block.
IPTN's announcement not to delay the project came after the embattled rupiah plunged to a record low of 10,000 against the U.S. dollar in Singapore trading Thursday. The greenback has gone up more than 300 percent in value against the rupiah since early July.
Bandung-based IPTN is headed by State Minister of Research and Technology B.J. Habibie, who is also Ilham's father.
Ilham said financial resources for the N-2130 project did not come from the government, but were provided by PT Dua Satu Tiga Puluh (DSTP).
President Soeharto, in his private capacity, established DSTP in 1996 with equity capital of $400 million.
The estimated cost of the project is $2 billion, with $1.19 billion of it expected to come from the sale of DSTP shares until 2006, when the jets will be ready for sale.
It is estimated DSTP raised about Rp 600 billion from the sale of shares to the public last year alone.
DSTP shareholders approved the plan in February to sell 774,398 shares for Rp 2.4 million each and 400,000 shares for Rp 5,500 each.
DSTP and IPTN signed a financing agreement for the production of Indonesia's first passenger jet in 1996.
Under the agreement, DSTP will provide $2 billion to IPTN to design, develop and produce two types of N-2130 passenger jets and to obtain at least three international certifications for the aircraft, including from the U.S. and Japan.
The N-2130, which is the second airplane to be designed and engineered entirely in Indonesia, has a passenger capacity of between 100 and 130 people and a maximum speed of 900 kilometers an hour.
The national jet project was launched in 1994. It is scheduled for completion in eight years, with its maiden flight in 2002 and its delivery to three national airline companies two years later.
Indonesia's first locally designed airplane, the N-250 turboprop passenger plane, made its maiden flight in August 1995.
Ilham said IPTN was considering proposals from three aircraft engine manufacturers for the N-2130, namely CFMI, a joint venture company between General Electric of the U.S. and France's Snecma, Germany's BMW-RR and Pratt and Whitney.
The choice among the three engine builders will be announced at the ASEAN air show, which will be held in Singapore from Feb. 24 to March 1, he said. (gis)