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.