Ciputra to invest US$1.1 bln in luxury housing project

Jakarta (ANTARA News/Asia Pulse) - Indonesian publicly-traded construction company PT Ciputra Development (JSX:CTRA) said it will build luxury homes worth Rp10 trillion (US$1.1 billion) in Palembang and Balikpapan.

 

The company has secured lands totaling 200 hectare in Palembang and 23 hectares in Balikpapan for the locations of the project. Construction would be undertaken in phases starting this year, company director Tulus Santoro said, adding that implementation would take 5-6 years in Balikpapan and 10 years in Palembang.

Axis offers affordable GSM services

The Jakarta Post, Thu, 04/24/2008 12:25 AM 

 

The latest player in the cellular industry, PT Natrindo Telepon Seluler, launched its GSM services in Java on Wednesday under its new brand name, Axis.

 

President director and CEO Erik Aas said the company offered more simple, transparent and competitive pricing than its competitors.

 

"Cellular users here often feel deceived (by complicated pricing). To avoid paying more, they have to change operators over and over again, which is really unnecessary," he said. Thus, he said, Axis offered a pricing mechanism that was transparent and measurable by subscribers, offering Rp 60 for a text message, Rp 60 per minute for calls between Axis numbers and Rp 600 per minute for calls between different operators.

 

Axis GSM coverage currently includes East Java, West Java, Greater Jakarta and Banten. The network is planned to expand to Sumatra, Central Java, Bali and Lombok.

 

"By the end of the year, we should have approximately 3,700 base transceiver stations in both Java and Sumatra. We are investing US$1 billion for our operation and infrastructure development here," Aas said.

 

Though a newcomer against incumbents such as Telkomsel, Indosat and Excelcomindo, Aas said he was confident of Indonesian market potential since about 150 million people did not yet have mobile phones.

 

"This makes it perfect for a GSM provider like us to contribute to the nation's growth in terms of making GSM services more affordable," he said.

 

Natrindo is now 51 percent owned by Saudi Arabian firm Saudi Telecommunications Company after the company acquired shares from Malaysia's Maxis Communications Berhad in June. Maxis now controls 44 percent. (lva)

 

 

Summarecon to build 30,000 homes in Bekasi

The Jakarta Post, Sat, 04/26/2008 12:02

Publicly listed construction firm PT Summarecon Agung is set to expand its property business by building 30,000 houses for middle and upper-income families in West Bekasi.

President director Johannes Mardjuki said after a shareholder meeting Friday the company was optimistic the houses would sell out as the company already had experience in property projects in Jakarta and Tangerang.

The houses will be built at an investment of some Rp 275 billion (US$29.8 million), he added.

Johannes also said the company was in the process of building a 300-room hotel near Kelapa Gading Mall in North Jakarta, which was expected to start operating in the middle of 2009.

The company is also planning to construct eight levels of Plaza Summarecon Serpong office building in Serpong, Tangerang, for operation in 2008.

"The company has allocated Rp 100 billion from internal cash for the hotel's development and Rp 45 billion for the office in Serpong," he said.

Following higher demand for houses, apartments and shop-houses in Kelapa Gading and Serpong, the company recorded sales of Rp 1.03 trillion last year, up by 6 percent from Rp 965.25 billion in 2006.

Sales in the two areas accounted for 66 percent of the company's total sales last year.

"Demand for houses has increased following stronger public purchasing power and favorable interest rates," said Johannes. (JP/rff)

VP orders PLN to speed up power plant constructions

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Cilegon | Mon, 04/07/2008 11:17 AM

 

Vice President Jusuf Kalla renewed calls Friday for state-owned power company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) to speed up construction of coal-fired power plants in a bid to swiftly resolve a power crisis plaguing Java.

 

Kalla made the statement during his visit to the Suralaya coal-fired power plant in Cilegon, West Java.

 

"If there are no longer any problems, please speed up the construction. We will reward the management if the project can be finished before schedule," he said.

 

The 652 Megawatts Suralaya project is scheduled for completion in 2010.

 

However, since Java has frequently suffered power blackouts due to a lack of power capacity, the government has requested PLN wrap up several key power projects on the island before next year's general election.

 

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has recently issued a government regulation ordering PLN to complete the construction of 35 planned 10,000 MW plants, 10 of which are to be built on Java, by 2010 at the latest.

 

Aside from the Suralaya plant, the pipeline projects also include a 600 MW Pacitan plant in East Java, a 900 MW Naga plant in Banten, a 900 MW Pelabuhan Ratu plant in West Java and a 200 MW Lampung plant in Lampung.

 

"We have just promised the Vice President the Suralaya plant can be completed by March 2009," PLN's Suralaya general manager Chairudin Matondang said.

 

The Suralaya plant, valued at US$334 million, is being built under a cooperation with China Technical Import & Export Corporation (CNTIC), China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation, Zhejiang Electric Power Design Institute, and local firm PT Rekayasa Industri.

 

Chairuddin said the construction was disturbed in March by bad weather that hampered incoming materials from China.

 

There are already seven coal-fired 3,400 MW power plants operating near the Suralaya plant.

 

PLN has predicted a continuation of the electrical crisis into next year if no extra power is made available.

 

The Java-Bali power grid has a capacity of 15,000 MW, less than the area's 16,251 MW peak power consumption, forcing PLN to regularly cut off electricity supply in the region.

PLN signs $888m power contracts with Chinese firms

Ika Krismantari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sat, 04/26/2008 12:02 PM

State power firm PT PLN signed two engineering procurement contracts (EPC) worth US$888 million in total Friday with two Chinese companies for the construction of two coal-fired power plants in East Java and Aceh.

PLN signed the EPC contract for the 700-megawatt (MW) Tanjung Awar-awar power plant in East Java with a consortium of China National Machinery Equipment Corp. (Sinomac), China National Electric Equipment Corp. (CNEEC) and a local company, PT Penta Adi Samudra, with the contract estimated to be worth $642 million.

PLN signed another contract worth $247.4 million for the 200-MW Nagan Raya plant in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam with another Chinese company, Sinohydro Corp.

PLN president director Fahmi Mochtar said the projects were expected to be completed within 2 years, with the first unit of the plant starting commercial operation in October 2010, followed by the second one in January 2011.

Both plants are part of the government's 10,000-MW power plant project, initially scheduled for completion by the end of next year, but the deadline is likely to be extended due to financial problems.

The program will see PLN build 10 coal-fired power plants with a total capacity of 6,900 MW in Java and 25 power plants with a total capacity outside Java. The program is targeted for completion by 2010.

The program is aimed at raising the country's electricity provision, which currently stands at 56 percent. This means 45 percent of Indonesia's population still lives in the dark.

Approximately 15 percent of financing for the Tanjung Awar-awar and Aceh plants will come from PLN equity, while the remaining 85 percent will come from credit commercials or global bonds.

Fahmi said the two projects had only managed to secure rupiah-denominated loans, while the company is still in talks with a number of lenders to finance the projects.

"We are still seeking the best alternative we can find to get the loans we need," Fahmi said.

The head of the government's power sector development team, Yogo Pratama, said so far the company had secured 60 percent of the $8.3 billion needed to build the power plants under the government's 10,000-MW project.

Financial status of the power project

Power plant location rupiah-denominated loans Bank dollar denominated loans Bank in trillion Rp in million US$

 

• 600-MW Labuan Banten, Java 1.18 BCA 288.6 in talks with Bank of China 
  
• 900-MW Indramayu West Java 1.2 BNI 592.2 Bank of China 
  
• 600-MW Rembang Central Java 1.9 Mandiri 261.8 Barclays 
  
• 600-MW Suralaya Banten 0.735 Mega 284.3 China Export Import Bank 
  
• 600-MW Paiton East Java 0.6 Mega 330.8 China Export Import Bank 
  
• 600-MW Pacitan East Java 1.045 consortium of Mega and 293.2 not yet to secure
  

 

Bukopin

• 900-MW Teluk Naga Banten 1.6 idem 454.9 idem
  
• 900-MW Plb. Ratu Banten 1.87 idem 481.9 idem
  
• 600-MW Tj. Awar East Java 1.49 480
  

 

Awar

• 200-MW Tarahan Baru Lampung 459.9 119.2
  
• 400-MW Pkl.susu North Sumatra 780.8 209.3
  
• 50-MW Jiranjang West Nusa Tenggara 273.8 23.8
  
• 50-MW Gorontalo Gorontalo 264.8 25.8
  
• 50-MW Amurang North Sulawesi 304.5 27.3
  
• 14-MW Tj Balai Karimun Riau 71.2 7
  
• 14-MW Ende East Nusa Tenggara 73.2 7.9
  
• 200-MW Kendari Southeast Sulawesi 97.1 10.3
  
• 200-MW Nagan Raya Aceh 0.795 161
  
• 120-MW Pulang Pisau Central Kalimantan 413.9 idem 62.1 idem 62.1
  

Telkom to cut long distance call rates by up to 46%

Novia D. Rulistia, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 04/08/2008 11:52 AM

 

Thanks in part to a government intervention, competition in the telecommunications industry has finally forced the biggest player in the industry, PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom), to cut its long distance call rate by up to 46 percent, starting Tuesday.

 

Telkom's vice president for public and marketing communications, Eddy Kurnia, said the rate would be cut to increase landline use amid increased competition from mobile phone services.

 

Earlier this month, the connection charge between mobile phone operators was cut by between 20 percent and 41 percent in response to a regulation issued by the Directorate General for Post and Telecommunications earlier this year.

 

"The regulation naturally affected our calculations for long distance calls, hence the new rates need to be introduced," Eddy said.

 

The regulation was issued on the back of a report by the Business Competition Supervisory Commission in November, which said the industry was marred by unhealthy competition as demonstrated by the fact, among others, that consumers here are paying the highest charges in Asia even though there are no entry barriers to competition.

 

Eddy said the new rate would be applied to almost all long distance calls between landlines and between landlines and mobile telephones.

 

"The percentage for the new charges will vary, depending on the distance and time bands," he said.

 

According to Eddy, a call from a landline to a mobile phone between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. across more than 500 kilometers, for example, will be charged at Rp 465 per 20 seconds, 46.2 percent lower than the previous rate of Rp 865 per 20 seconds.

 

Calls between landlines and mobile phones across 30 to 200 kilometers during the same period will now be charged at Rp 300 per 20 seconds, down from Rp 583.3 per 20 seconds.

 

He said there would be no changes for local call rates, which would remain at Rp 250 per two minutes, or for the subscription fee, which would remain at Rp 32,600 per month.

 

According to Eddy, the company now has 8.7 million subscribers for landlines and 6.5 million for mobile wireless connections (CDMA) under its Flexi brand.

 

In 2006, the company recorded a net profit of Rp 11.055 trillion, up 37.7 percent from Rp 7.99 trillion the previous year. The increase was mostly attributed to the significant increase in its wireless service, TelkomFlexi.