Siemens plans to invest 200 million marks

Siemens plans to invest 200 million marks

JAKARTA (JP): Germany's widely-diversified business group
Siemens AG will invest 200 million marks (US$59.8 million) by the
end of the century for its expansion in Indonesia, the company
said yesterday.

The head of Siemens' Indonesian office, Kurt W. Pfeiffer, said
the company would spend the money to strengthen its production
facilities throughout the country, especially in the electronic,
telecommunications and information technology sectors.

The expansion plan would include the establishment of PT
Siemens Precision Electronics in Batam next year, Pfeiffer said
in a press conference to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the
company.

Siemens, which first entered Indonesia in 1894, currently
operates several companies in the country which are mostly active
in engineering and manufacturing.

The companies include PT Siemens Kabel Optik, an optic fiber
cable manufacturer based in Cilegon, West Java, which is 51
percent owned by Siemens and 49 percent owned by the Ometraco
Group; PT Siemens Component, a wholly-owned electronics
manufacturer in Batam; and PT Osram, a lightbulb producer based
in Jakarta, which is 95 percent owned by Siemens.

Siemens is also developing a 1,220 Megawatt (MW) coal-fired
power plant in Paiton, East Java in a joint venture with
Britain's PowerGen Plc, and PT Bumipertiwi Tatapradipta of the
Bimantara group.

Siemens has a 50 percent stake in the power project, while
PowerGen and Bumpertiwi retain a 35 percent and 15 percent stake
respectively.

Siemens has also set up a joint venture, PT Siemens Indonesia,
in which the company has a 93.5 percent stake and its partner,
the state-owned armament manufacturer PT Pindad, a 6.5 percent
stake.

PT Siemens Indonesia operates a manufacturing plant in Pulo
Mas, East Jakarta, which produces equipment for power
transmission and distribution, and another plant in Cilegon, West
Java, which produces gas and steam turbines.

Pfeiffer also said Siemens would set up a joint venture with
the state-owned telecommunication equipment producer PT Inti and
electronics producer PT Lembaga Elektronika Nasional (LEN) to
produce telecommunications equipment next year.

Siemens would have a 65 percent stake in the company, while
the remaining 35 percent would be shared between PT Inti and PT
LEN.

Pfeiffer said Siemens booked an annual sales of one billion
marks in Indonesia in the last fiscal year ending on Sept. 30.
The company also booked 1.5 billion marks in new orders in the
same period.

He said the telecommunications and power generation sectors
contributed 40 percent each to Siemens's sales in Indonesia but
the last fiscal year saw a strong increase in the orders for the
company's telecommunications equipment.

Of the 1.5 billion marks in new orders booked in the last
fiscal year, one billion marks came from the telecommunications
sector, 50 percent of which originated from the mobile
telecommunications sector, he said. (jsk)