Organda, Texmaco to meet on buying of Perkasa buses

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)