PT Astratel allocates $228m for telecom project
PT Astratel allocates $228m for telecom project
JAKARTA (JP): PT Astratel Nusantara, a subsidiary of the Astra
International group, has allocated US$228 million for its equity
capital in a project to install 516,000 fixed-telephone lines,
worth $570 million, in Sumatra within the next four years.
The company's president, Thomas B. Subijanto, told reporters
yesterday that the project would be implemented by his company
and three other parties which recently won a 15-year joint-
operation contract for installing and operating telephone lines
in Sumatra.
He cited a government ruling which requires each winner of the
joint-operation contract to put up an equity of at least 40
percent of the total investment of the project.
"The project will start in January. In the meantime, we are
now completing the legal aspects of incorporating PT Pramindo
Ikat Nusantara, the joint venture which will implement and manage
the project.
The joint venture will consist of Astratel; France Cable et
Radio (FCR), a subsidiary of France Telecom; and the cooperative
of the employees of the ministry of tourism, post and
telecommunications and PT Intertel Pratama Media.
Pramindo will be 60 percent owned by Astratel, 35 percent by
FCR and five percent by the cooperative and Intertel.
Pramindo Ikat is one of the winners of five joint-operation
contracts for the installation and operation of telephone lines
in various provinces for the next 15 years.
The other winning consortia, which were announced in June, are
Tiga-A, for the West Java region; the Mitra Global Telekomunikasi
Indonesia consortium, for Central Java; Daya Mitra Malindo, for
Kalimantan; and Bukaka Singtel, for the eastern Indonesian
region.
The five projects are part of the government's program to
install five million telephone lines within the current Sixth
Five-Year Development Program (Repelita VI), two million of which
will be developed by private firms.
Other projects
Thomas added that his company, set up in 1992, is dealing with
three major infrastructure projects in telecommunications,
transportation and electricity.
"In cooperation with state-owned PT Telkom, we will issue a
modified telephone card, which is similar to the smart card. We
are now in the final stage of negotiations," he said.
He said that in the transportation field, Astratel is
currently participating in the tenders for toll road development
projects of state-owned PT Jasa Marga.
"We have been qualified to bid for the Pandaan-Malang toll
road (East Java) and the Cirebon-Tegal toll road (West Java)
projects," Thomas said.
He said that there were 16 bidders for the 30-kilometer
Pandaan-Malang toll road project and 15 bidders for the 43-
kilometer Cirebon-Tegal toll road project.
The government has invited private firms to bid in 19 toll
road projects, covering about 770 kilometers, in Java and Sumatra
worth about Rp 7.7 trillion (U.S.$3.4 billion). The tenders are
scheduled to close by the end of this year.
Astratel's director, Arief Istanto, said that the company will
also develop a gas power plant in Prabumulih, a village in the
eastern part of Palembang of South Sumatra.
"We expect to start construction next March next, and the
project is slated to be completed in 1997.
The power project will be designed with an installed capacity
of 390 (3 times 130) megawatts. Astratel will sell the
electricity, at 6.2 U.S. cent per kWh, to the State Electricity
Company.(icn)