Perumka aims to make $282.8m in 1997

JAKARTA (JP): The state-owned railway company Perumka aims to make Rp 667.5 billion (US$282.8 million) in revenue and a Rp 23.5 billion profit this year.

Perumka's operations director, Widjanarko, said in Bandung yesterday that passenger services would contribute Rp 439.5 billion and cargo services would contribute Rp 217 billion to the revenue target.

He said the target was 18.7 percent higher than 1996's total revenue of Rp 619.7 billion.

He said that 1996's total revenue was 112.6 percent higher than the Rp 553 billion figure that had been targeted. In 1996, passenger revenue was Rp 435 billion and cargo revenue was Rp 183.9 billion.

The company booked a Rp 17.5 billion net profit in 1996, exceeding its target of Rp 12.5 billion and the previous year's profit of Rp 10.53 billion.

Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutiro said earlier that Perumka was one of the few companies under his ministry's supervision which made money in 1996.

The company had lost billions of rupiah over several years before it recorded a Rp 3.4 billion profit for 1994.

Perumka transported about 150 million people in 1996, up 14.5 percent on 1995.

Perumka president Soemino Eko Saputro said in Bandung yesterday that the World Bank had indicated its approval for Perumka to change its status from a public service company with a social mission to a commercial limited-liability corporation.

"We plan to operate as a limited liability company in January 1998," Antara quoted him as saying.

He said that plans were being made to turn Perumka into a profit-oriented firm. "The government and the World Bank have expressed their support."

He said Perumka had performed well in the past three years, compared to railway companies in many other countries which had suffered losses.

Saputra attributed Perumka's better performance to the introduction of several new express trains which offered comfort to passengers.

These new trains include the Argo Gede service from Jakarta to Bandung, which cut rail travel time from three to two hours, and the Argo Bromo train which connects Jakarta and Surabaya, East Java, in nine hours.

To further improve the company's performance, he said, the firm would develop its land and other idle assets.

The company planned to develop hotels, apartments, business centers on its vast tracts of land, he said, adding that Perumka would set up a subsidiary for property development.

He said other railway companies, such as those in Japan, had successfully diversified into other areas of business.

On Dec. 14 last year, the firm signed an agreement with PT Artha Mitra Pandawa, owned by President Soeharto's grandson Arie Sigit, to develop a Rp 3.9 billion container yard in Semarang.

The yard is to be built on Perumka's 4.2-hectare site near Semarang's Tanjung Emas port.

Perumka had another 12 hectares in strategic locations in Semarang which could be leased, he said. (09)