Perumka aims to make $282.8m in 1997
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)