Steady Safe to operate trains

JAKARTA (JP): Publicly-listed transportation firm PT Steady Safe has approval from state-owned railway firm Perumka to develop and operate a commuter train system in Greater Jakarta.

Steady Safe said yesterday that the company, through PT Infiniti Indomarga, and Perumka will soon sign an official agreement.

Infiniti, 70 percent controlled by Steady Safe, and Perumka signed a memorandum of understanding on the system in June last year.

"We expect that the system will be in operation by early 1997," the company said in statement, issued in accordance with the Indonesia Summit economic meeting. Steady Safe is one of the summit's corporate sponsors.

The company said it has secured a US$100 million loan from the Hong Kong Bank to buy 16 second-hand trains from Japan. The trains will be refurbished in Australia before being operated in the city.

Each train, consisting of four cars each with a seating capacity for 80 people, will cost the company US$35 million.

The company said it will arrange for the maintenance and building of support facilities, such as platforms which will be positioned at 1.5-kilometer intervals along the tracks.

The company said Infiniti, according to the memorandum of understanding, will have a license to operate the commuter train system for 20 years and will work within a build-operate-transfer cooperation framework, which will be based on a profit-sharing scheme.

Steady Safe's commuter train project has nothing to do with the planned mass rapid transportation system, linking Blok M in South Jakarta and Kota in Central Jakarta, which is worth $1.3 billion.

The company said the new train project is expected to contribute Rp 40 billion (US$1.8 million) to its annual earnings by the end of next year and will continue to increase in the following years.

"The company is confident that this commuter train project will succeed because there is a need for new trains," the company said, adding that it plans to eventually operate 61 new trains in Greater Jakarta.

The company also plans to operate passenger ferries on three domestic routes and three international routes.

Discussions of expansion are under way with the government, the company said, without giving further details. (rid)