S'pore, RI firms tie up

S'pore, RI firms tie up

SINGAPORE (AFP): Indonesian firm PT Bukaka Teknik Utama entered into agreements yesterday with Singapore Telecom and two other local companies on bids for multi-million dollar telecommunications and energy projects in Indonesia.

The signing of the agreements, witnessed by Indonesian Finance Minister Mar'ie Muhammad and his Singaporean counterpart, Richard Hu, was described as a collaboration for mutual business gains.

"It makes more economic sense for neighbors like Singapore and Indonesia to cooperate for mutual benefit," Bukaka Teknik Utama Director Fadel Muhammad said at the ceremony.

The agreement with Singapore Telecom International (STI), the overseas investment arm of privatized government monopoly Singapore Telecom, includes a joint bid to install and operate a two-million-line telephone project, officials said.

STI's partner in the venture is Bukaka Telekomindo, a subsidiary of Bukaka Teknik Utama that is 25 percent owned by Transpac Capital Pte. Ltd., a Singapore venture capital fund management company.

Bukaka is to own 55 percent of the equity in the joint venture company Bukaka Singtel International, while STI would take up the remaining equity.