Schelde opens office here

JAKARTA (JP): Royal Schelde, a Dutch company operating in shipbuilding, engineering and industrial construction, has opened a regional office here to coordinate its activities in South East Asia.

The company's chairman, Robert van den Heuvel, told reporters after a ceremony for the opening of the office on Monday that in Indonesia, Royal Schelde is now negotiating with potential local partners for the establishment of joint ventures with initial investment of US$10 million to $15 million.

Royal Schelde, which started business relationship with Indonesia in 1976, had constructed three corvettes and six frigates for the Indonesian navy and delivered boilers and industrial equipment for a number of oil and gas plants in the country, he said.

He said his company planned to cooperate with the state-owned shipbuilder PT PAL Indonesia to make ships and ferries.

Van den Heuvel explained that Frits M. van der Jagt had been assigned to coordinate Royal Schelde's activities in South East Asia and Carly P. Verhoeven appointed as resident representative for Indonesia. (10)