Sucofindo may loose contract

JAKARTA (JP): The Directorate General for Customs and Excise will not renew its contract with state-owned surveyor PT Sucofindo in a bid to improve efficiency, its director general RB Permana Agung said here on Monday.

"By the end of July, we will no longer renew our contract with Sucofindo," Agung was quoted by Antara news agency as saying.

He pointed out that his office pays Sucofindo Rp 500 billion (about US$46.5 million) a year in exchange for the company's inspection services.

According him, the payment is much larger than the annual budget received by the customs and excise office. This year, the directorate has been allocated approximately Rp 297 billion in the state budget to maintain the office's activities in the country's 137 ports.

Sucofindo, which is 95 percent owned by the government and 5 percent owned by Geneva-based surveyor company SGS, has, for may years now, handled the inspection of goods entering or leaving the country.