Organda, Texmaco to meet on buying of Perkasa buses

JAKARTA (JP): City bus operators are to meet top executives of PT Texmaco Perkasa Engineering next week to obtain detailed information about the firm's Perkasa buses and related services, including the payment system, offered by the company.

The plan was announced on Friday by the Organization of Land Transportation Owners (Organda) Jakarta chairman, Aip Sjarifuddin.

He said he did not know the precise date of next week's meeting, which was arranged following Governor Sutiyoso's visit to the Perkasa plant on Thursday morning in Subang, West Java, in an effort to explore the option of replacing aging city buses with domestically assembled buses.

According to Aip, most of the private bus operators in Jakarta, all of whom are grouped in Organda, would consider purchasing Perkasa buses as long as Texmaco did not attach difficult conditions to any agreement.

"So far, I can say that these buses might be much cheaper than buses from China," Aip said.

"As long as the (Perkasa) buses are of good quality, and there is sufficient after-sales service, competitive prices and an affordable credit scheme, we will buy them," Aip added.

Governor Sutiyoso announced earlier this year a plan to replace the city's aging buses with 3,000 buses imported from China. The first shipment of 1,000 buses is expected to arrive in Jakarta in December.

When asked early this month about the plan to import buses, Minister of Industry and Trade Luhut B. Panjaitan opposed the idea, saying he hoped Jakarta bus operators would consider buying locally made buses.

"What's going on here? (People) only want to take the easy way. If we can assemble (the buses) here, why should we import them?" Luhut was quoted as saying by Warta Kota at the time.

But a source at Luhut's office said the minister had not rejected the plan but reminded that the importer should meet the tax requirements accordingly.

Knowing the unfavorable atmosphere, Sutiyoso decided to meet Luhut and explain the plan to import Chinese buses. He said he would stick to his initial idea and would ask the minister to help lower the import tax for the buses from the official rate of 40 percent to 5 percent.

It is unknown whether the meeting between Sutiyoso and Luhut has taken place.

Aip said the Perkasa buses were good enough as the vehicles had German Steier engines. Eighty 80 percent of the components are local.

The on-the-road price, he added, was competitive at Rp 245 million (US$2,784) for a 40-seat air-conditioned bus.

"It's definitely cheaper because the (54-seat) buses from China cost about Rp 275 million each," Aip said.

Organda members believe the buses must be of good quality since they have German engines.

Aip said that the only problem was that Texmaco Perkasa Engineering specialized in producing trucks, not buses.

"Much more, we are not sure Texmaco could produce 1,000 buses by December. So it's still a plan," Aip remarked, adding that most of the bus operators wanted 60-seat air-conditioned buses.

After the Subang visit, Governor Sutiyoso, who test drove a bus, said: "I cannot force Organda to buy buses from PT Texmaco, but this is a local product that may be of good quality at a low price."

"It's always better to use local products," he said.

"Besides, we have yet to sign a contract for buses from China. So we can consider other options," he added.

The governor was accompanied by Aip and officials from the City Land Transportation Agency (DLLAJ).

In an open bid, the city administration recently appointed PT Dayu Bahtara Kurnia to oversee the purchase and shipment of the Chinese buses.

After being appointed the sole importer of the Chinese buses, executives of PT Dayu Bahtara Kurnia said the Chinese factory which produced the vehicles would provide a lifetime warranty for bus spare parts. (dja)