Texmaco to build rayon fiber plant

JAKARTA (JP): The Texmaco Group, a producer of textile machinery, will take over the forestry concessions of PT Astra International and its partner Scott Paper Co. of the United States in Irian Jaya, a minister said yesterday.

"Texmaco will take over the plan of Astra and its partner in Irian Jaya. But unlike the Astra-Scott joint venture, which will use the wood from the concession to produce pulp and paper tissue, Texmaco will use the wood to manufacture rayon fiber," Minister of Forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo told reporters after meeting President Soeharto.

Djamaludin said Texmaco would set up a rayon fiber plant in Irian Jaya.

He did not mention the production capacity of planned plant, nor how much it would cost to develop.

He said Texmaco would install its own machinery in the rayon fiber plant.

Two years ago, Astra and Scott planned to set up a pulp plant and develop forestry industrial estates in Irian Jaya. But because of environmental campaigns launched by non-governmental organizations in the United States, Scott quit the project and Astra had to cancel it.

Djamaludin said the government would promote the use of rayon fiber as a raw material for Indonesian textile industries because it is hard to grow cotton in Indonesia.

He said that only PT Inti Indorayon in Porsea, North Sumatra, would be able to produce rayon fiber in the near future.

He told the President about investor's increasing interest in developing palm oil plantations near Merauke, Tanah Merah and Wamena, which are linked by good roads, in Irian Jaya.

According to the minister, President Soeharto called for the application of a nucleus-estate-and-smallholder scheme in developing palm oil plantations. (bnt)