Palm oil project in Bangka

JAKARTA (JP): PT Sadin Tradewinds Indonesia, a joint venture between PT Sadin Mulitagro Sentosa of Indonesia and Tradewinds Bhd of Malaysia, has started the establishment of a palm oil plantation on Bangka island in South Sumatra.

Freddy Widjaja, the company's director, told reporters yesterday that the plantation will be equipped with a two unit palm oil processing plant with a processing capacity of 30 tons of oil per hour.

The construction of the plantation and the palm oil plant, which will start producing in five years, will cost US$60 million, he said.

The signing of a memorandum of understanding between Sadin and Tradewinds took place in Kuala Lumpur on Oct. 8.

Widjaja, who is one of the sons of industrialist Eka Cipta Widjaja, said that Tradewinds is a joint venture between the Malaysian state-owned conglomerate Pernas and sugar tycoon Robert Kuok.(hdj)