PT ABB ESI to produce more boilers

SURABAYA, East Java (JP): PT ABB Energy Sistem Indonesia (ABB ESI), an international engineering and electricity company, has expanded the production capacity of its units here for the manufacturing of boilers, heat exchangers and turbines.

"This company has now become the largest in its kind in Southeast Asia," Minister of Research and Technology B.J. Habibie said at the inaugurating ceremony of the new facility here over the weekend.

By the expansion, PT ABB Energy Sistem Indonesia, which relies on orders to produce components, now has a working capacity of 600,000 to 700,000 man-hours per year.

Habibie pointed out in his speech that the government will limit the number of such industrial firms operating in the country into two.

"Technologically speaking, the two firms -- here and in Batam, Riau -- are enough," he noted.

A similar company, Babcock Wilcox, operates in Batam, with Mohammad "Bob" Hasan as one of its shareholders.

But, he said, the government will review the taxation on the two firms, which are burdened by double taxation, with a view to make their operations more competitive.

The president of PT ABB Energy Sistem Indonesia, Wisnoentoro Martokoesoemo, said the boilers his company produces can be used in power plants with a generation capacity of between 50 megawatts (MW) and 600 MW.

"This year we've already won contracts to make boilers for the Paiton VII and Paiton VIII power units in East Java and for the Sengkang steam power plant," he noted.

Each of the Paiton units has a generation capacity of 600 MW, while the Sengkang plant has a capacity of 100 MW.

In the past, Wisnoentoro said, his company supplied components to a number of major power plants, including Paiton I and Paiton II steam power units and similar plants in Belawan in North Sumatra, Muara Karang in Jakarta and Tanjung Priok in Jakarta.

"Since 1992 we have exported components to China, the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore," he noted.

PT ABB Energy Sistem Indonesia is 79 percent owned by the Swiss company ABB Group, 20 percent by state-owned PT PAL and 1 percent by PT Barata Indonesia.

PT ABB Energy Sistem Indonesia was previously named ESI, which was 60 percent owned by Combustion Engineering, 20 percent by PT PAL and the other 20 percent by PT Barata Indonesia.

The Swiss company ABB, which employs 207,000 people worldwide, took over Combustion Engineering in 1994 and injected funds of US$36 million. (15/13)