Regents told to raise funds for national plane project
Regents told to raise funds for national plane project
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto yesterday asked regent chiefs
and city mayors throughout Indonesia to lead the fund raising
campaign in their respective areas for the $2 billion jet project
of state aircraft maker IPTN.
"Let's mobilize our 200 million people in the name of the
Second National Awakening. I'm confident that through gotong
royong (mutual help), we can do this," Soeharto said at a meeting
with local administrators.
"This plane will be the pride and joy of not only a handful of
people. It should be the pride of all our people," he said.
Soeharto was speaking in his capacity as chief commissioner of
PT Dua Satu Tiga Puluh (DSTP), the company established in
February explicitly to raise the $2 billion needed to build the
twin-engine short-distance commuter jet named N-2130.
The 130-seater plane is the latest venture on IPTN's drawing
board.
The company last year celebrated the maiden flight of the twin
propeller N-250, the first plane designed and built locally. The
plane is currently still undergoing tests.
DSTP President Saadilah Mursyid, who is also a cabinet
minister, said that a recent shareholders meeting agreed to
change the capital structure of the company to two million shares
with a nominal value of Rp 4.6 trillion ($2 billion).
Shares
The 400,000 shares valued at Rp 920 billion that it initially
started with have been sold to various individuals, and state
companies, according to Saadilah.
When the company was founded in February, Soeharto owned
44,950 shares worth Rp 103,385 million, making him the biggest
shareholder. Other initial shareholders include tycoons Soedono
Salim, Sudwikatmono, Anthony Salim, Prajogo Pangestu, Eka Tjipta
Widjaja, Rachman Halim, Putera Sampurno, Henry Pribadi, Usman
Admadjaja.
Former vice presidents Umar Wirahadikusumah and Sudharmono
also sit on the board of commissioners. Saadilah is accompanied
by Rahardi Ramelan, deputy chairman of the National Development
Planning Board, and Giri Suseno Hadihardjano of the Institute for
the Development and Application of Technology (BPPT), both as
directors.
"Two billion dollars sounds like a lot of money. But it is not
that much," Soeharto said at yesterday's meeting.
Divided over the 200 million people, it amounts to $10 a
person, and spread over five phases, it means $2, or close to Rp
5,000, he pointed out.
"I hope all regent chiefs can grasp the strategic national
interest involved in building this plane.
"This is no white elephant. Not at all. This is something that
we desperately need. And we have to build this before others do,
so that we can secure the market," he said.
"National pride doesn't come cheap. We have to pay for it," he
added.
He said the regent chiefs in the first phase are expected to
collect Rp 5,000 from every citizen in their area. Some people
may not be able to raise that money, but others are expected to
make up for this by buying more than one share.
Once the regent chief have collected the money, then they
could proceed to buy the shares on behalf of the people, he said.
Soeharto promised that all the money collected by PT DSTP
would be managed in a transparent manner.
The money collected would not be used directly to finance the
project and therefore the funds would be put in a bank deposit,
earning interest, he said.
Although he stressed that Indonesia is building the N-2130 to
meet the growing need for air transportation within the
archipelago, the plane would also be expected to penetrate export
markets. (emb)