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.