Singaporean eyes Jakarta market

Singaporean eyes Jakarta market

SINGAPORE: A Singapore-based tycoon is pumping millions of dollars into a Jakarta car complex that will house a showroom and after-sales facility for Porsche, Rolls-Royce and Saab.

"I'm really focusing a lot of energy on Indonesia," Karsono Kwee told The Straits Times on Tuesday. "The people there are either very poor or very rich," he said. "The market has a lot of potential."

Kwee, who landed the Rolls-Royce, Porsche and Saab franchises for Indonesia, is spending S$10 million (US$5.6 million) to build a four-storey complex in Pondok Indah, a prestigious commercial district of the capital.

The building, on a 2,250-square-meter plot, is expected to be completed in December.

It will be followed by another in Surabaya in the next six to 12 months, said Kwee, who also sells Porsches, Rolls-Royces, Saabs, Opels and Mg Rovers in Singapore.

A native of Surabaya, Kwee said that his plans were undeterred by the recent bomb blast that rocked the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta. -- DPA