Malaysia and RI companies sign business accords

Malaysia and RI companies sign business accords

JAKARTA (JP): Six firms from Malaysia and Indonesia signed
agreements here yesterday on join operations in
telecommunications, power generation and banking.

The agreements, whose signing was witnessed by Coordinating
Minister for Industry and Trade Hartarto and Malaysian Premier
Mahatir Mohamad, included the establishment of PT Daya Mitra
Malindo, internationally guaranteed giro order services (IGGO)
and the 5,000-megawatt ASEAN power project.

PT Daya Mitra Malindo is a telecommunications consortium 40
percent controlled by PT Intidaya Sistelindomitra and 25 percent
by Telekom Malaysia. The other owners include American
International Assurance Co. Ltd., a cooperative, and ALatief
Corporation of Indonesia.

Under an agreement signed yesterday by Telekom's president,
Mohd. Rashdan, and Intidaya's chief commissioner Rachmat
Badruddin, the consortium will participate in the development of
the telecommunications industry in Indonesia.

Intidaya's president, Benny Nasution, told reporters after the
signing ceremony that the consortium is one of the 12 consortia
selected by the government to take part in the open bid for the
establishment of two million telephone lines in Indonesia.

The consortium, led by Intidaya, is proposed to be capitalized
at US$10 million.

The government expects to install five million telephone lines
in the coming five years, including two million lines that will
be offered to private companies. The other three million lines
will be established by the state-owned domestic
telecommunications company PT Telkom with a total investment of
Rp 15 trillion (US$6.88 billion).

Benny said that his company chose Telekom because it has
developed modern telecommunications facilities in Malaysia.
Telekom has also won contracts in Sri Lanka and India.

Mohd. Rashdan said that his company has installed 2.6 million
telephone lines throughout Malaysia. "We install 14 lines for
every 100 people."

Power plant

Meanwhile, Ponco Sutowo, an indigenous tycoon and executive of
PT Bukit Asam Power Plant, signed an agreement with Zainal Osman
of Sikap SPP Transystems of Malaysia on the establishment of a
mine-mouth power generation plant in southern Sumatra.

Ponco said that the agreement will be followed up with several
negotiations about the construction phases.

He said that the project, when implemented, will form part of
ASEAN super grid enabling power transfer between Indonesia and
Malaysia as power producers and Thailand, Singapore and other
power consumers.

The project is estimated to cost $7.5 billion.

Besides Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia, the
Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) also groups Brunei
and the Philippines.

The coal-fired power plant, described as the single biggest
project of any type in Southeast Asia, will be completed within
the next 15 to 20 years. The first phase will involve the
construction of a 500-megawatt unit on a 50-50 basis by Malaysia
and Indonesia. It will have a capacity of 1,000 megawatts and is
due to be able to provide power to Java island and Malaysia.

The state-owned Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN) also signed an
agreement with Malaysian Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN) to
introduce money remittance service from Malaysia to Indonesia.

BTN's president Widigdo Sukarman, who signed the agreement
with BSN's chairman Datuk Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, said that the
service, called IGGO, will facilitate the remittance of money as
there are lots of Indonesians workers in Malaysia.

"About one million Indonesian work in Malaysia. Each of them
is estimated to send at least 500 Malaysian ringgit ($200) every
month to Indonesia," he said. He added that the money transfer
will be made easier by the service.(icn)