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)