PT. Rekayasa ties up with three state firms

JAKARTA (JP): PT Rekayasa Industri forged alliances yesterday with three other state enterprises to raise its industrial- engineering and construction expertise.

Rekayasa Industri president Hari G. Soeparto said yesterday the alliances were expected to make the company better at designing and building cement and petrochemical plants.

"This will also help Rekayasa Industri prepare for greater competition from domestic and foreign competitors," Hari told an audience at the signing of agreements between Rekayasa Industri and cement firm PT Semen Gresik, fertilizer maker PT Pupuk Sriwijaya and petrochemical firm PT Petrokimia Gresik.

The three agreements were signed by Hari and Semen Gresik president Urip Timuryono, a Pupuk Sriwijaya executive, Nanang Sutadji, and Petrokimia Gresik president Rauf Purnama.

The director general of Metal, Machinery and Chemical Industries, Effendi Sudarsono, who witnessed the ceremony, said that under the alliance petrochemical and cement industries would no longer have to make special investments in industrial engineering and construction.

"Factory engineering makes up from 5 percent to 10 percent of total investment costs... These alliances will hopefully enable the companies to focus on their main business of manufacturing," Effendi said.

He said Rekayasa Industri's alliances with the petrochemical and cement firms would, in the long run, save the costs of foreign goods and services.

"The petrochemical and cement industries give huge multiplier effects... Hopefully the sophisticated facilities owned (by Semen Gresik, Petrokimia Gresik and Pupuk Sriwijaya) can be optimally used and improved by Rekayasa Industri," Effendi said.

Hari said about 60 percent of Rekayasa Industri's clients in 1995 were private firms and this rose to 80 percent last year.

Rekayasa Industri's total projects last year were worth between Rp 60 billion (US$26.1 million) and Rp 70 billion. (pwn)