Kia maintains RI project

Kia maintains RI project

SEOUL (Reuters): South Korea's Kia Motors Corp said yesterday it would go ahead with its plan to build a joint venture car plant near Jakarta despite political and economic turmoil in Indonesia.

Kia began to build a plant in Cikampek, about 60 miles east of Jakarta, in cooperation with Timor Putra National (TPN) since February 1997.

A Kia spokesman said the plant was meant to be completed by the end of this year and churn out 30,000 cars annually.

Japan, the United States and the European Union have complained to the World Trade Organization (WTO) over tax and tariff breaks given to TPN for its Timor national car project in association with Kia Motors.