Jasa Marga to sell shares after poll

JAKARTA (JP): Some of the shares of the state-owned toll road operator PT Jasa Marga will be sold to the public after the May general election, the company's senior executives said yesterday.

Company president Maryadi Darmokumoro said that an initial public offering (IPO) of the company's shares would be launched by the end of this year.

"The amount of shares to be sold to the public has not yet been decided by the Ministry of Finance as the nominee shareholder of the company," he said on the sidelines of a conference on capital markets organized by ING Baring Indonesia.

But he estimated that between 25 percent and 35 percent of the company's shares would be up for grabs.

Jasa Marga, which is finalizing its IPO plan, is expected to be able to launch the IPO before the May election.

"Well, we are ready to sell shares before May but we are not in that much of a hurry," he said. Even if the company was ready, he said, it would surely depend on the Ministry of Finance as the company's shareholder to decide the timing of the IPO.

He said the funds to be raised from the IPO would be used to finance the company's domestic toll road projects.

The company, which booked a Rp 266.1 billion net profit for 1995, recorded a Rp 245 billion net profit from January to September last year.

Maryadi said the company planned to spend at least Rp 7 trillion (US$2.96 billion) building 310 kilometers of toll roads in the next five years.

He said his company would invite private firms to help it raise funds: "PT Jasa Marga will raise the funds in cooperation with private parties."

Earlier reports say that the Public Works Office has initiated 15 toll road projects under build, operate and transfer schemes in Java and Sumatra. These include a 10 km toll road linking Medan and Kualanamu in North Sumatra; a 10 km road from Antasari to Depok; Bantar Gebang in Bekasi to Cileungsi in Bogor (15 km); Sedyatmo to Teluk Naga in Tangerang (15 km); Jatiasih in Bekasi to Karawang in West Java (35 km); and Tanjung Sari to Dawuan in West Java (50 km). (09)