Indonesia vying for construction market in Dubai

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto and a number of construction businessmen will be visiting Dubai in an effort to win a number of construction projects in the Middle East country, a Public Works Ministry Spokesman said. 

"We will try our best to construction market in the Middle East though Dubai because Dubai is the biggest financial center in the Middle East like Singapore in Asia," Sumaryanto Widayatin, head of construction development affairs of the Ministry of Public Works, said here on Monday. 

The minister`s delegation will be visiting Dubai during which it would attend an expo held in that country. 

Widayatin, who is one of the 40 members of the Indonesian delegation, said that the Indonesian construction businesses were to take part in the expo in order to seize construction business opportunities. 

He said that the construction market in Dubai was estimated at US$20 billion. It needed skills such as in the building maintenance. 

Widayatin said that Dubai itself was known as the `big five` in the building business in the Middle East that would surely promise a good market potential. 

He said that Indonesia was now preparing to set up a representative office i Dubai. "The problem is whether to open our own branch office or just to join with the Indonesian Embassy`s attache," he added. 

Widayatin said that could not set any business target for Indonesia in the expo which would be held for three days. 

The public works ministry official said that Dubai had relative big market potentials but it was hard for Indonesian contractors to take part not because of competition but because of certainties in the payments. 

"Overseas, we don`t know to whom the payments that are obtained should be charged. There must be certainties with regard to this. After all, we also need certainties in banking support because no supporting banks already available overseas," he added. 

He said that at present Dubai still had plans to build a lot of new buildings most of which were high rise ones.

Citra Marga to build $195m turnpike in the Philippines

Ika Krismantari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta 

Citra Marga Nusaphala Persada (CMNP), a publicly listed toll operator, plans to build a turnpike in the Philippines with a total investment of US$195 million. 

Director of operations Hudaya Arryanto said over the weekend the project would start early next year and was scheduled to be completed in 2010. 

The project, known as Metro Manila Skyway, is the company's second project in the Philippines. CMNP will build a toll road connecting Bicutan to Alabang with a total length of 6.8 kilometer. 

The first one involves the construction of a 13.5-kilometer toll road connecting Buendia and Bicutan regions. The company has a 21 percent stake in the two projects. 

"We are in talks with a number of local banks in the Philippines to provide loans for the project," Hudaya said, without naming the banks. 

Aside from the projects in the Philippines, the company also has projects in Malaysia. 

On the domestic front, the company's ongoing projects include Cawang-Tanjung Priok turnpike (North South Link) -- a section of Tanjung Priok Port-Jembatan Tiga (Harbor Road) and Surabaya Eastern Ring Road tollway. 

It plans to start the construction of a Depok-Antasari turnpike with a total length of 22.8 kilometers by the end of this year. 

With its domestic and overseas projects, the company expects a net profit of Rp 120 billion ($11.4 million) this year, having recorded Rp 92 billion in net profit in the first nine months of the year. 

Formerly controlled by the eldest daughter of former president Suharto, Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, CMNP is now 58.3 percent owned by the public. 

State toll road operator and builder PT Jasa Marga also owns about 17.8 percent stake in the company.

Balinese houses popular abroad

DENPASAR (Jakarta Post) : The export of Balinese-style quake-resistance homes recorded US$5.8 million in sales between January and October this year, a sharp 446 percent increase from $1 million over the same period last year.

Bali's Trade and Industry Office said the exports also recorded a sharp increase in volume, from 356 units to 30,667.

"Who would have expected knock-down houses to become a such a hot item for export to European countries, the U.S. and Australia?" said Made Suma, a marketer of Balinese-style homes in Denpasar.

He attributed the high sales to the wooden house's unique character and easy set-up, as well as by the word-of-mouth promotion from tourists and various exhibitions.

The house is among the exhibits on display at the one-month-long Bali Art Festival in Denpasar Cultural Park, in the heart of Bali's capital city.

Indonesia`s Duta Graha eyes construction projects in middle east construction

Jakarta (ANTARA News/Asia Pulse) - Construction company PT Duta Graha Indah said it is bidding for an office building project in Bahrain and an apartment project in Ryadh.

The contract value of the office building project in Bahrain alone is estimated at around Rp500 billion (US$55.5 million), Duta Graha Finance Director Laurensius Teguh said. "We are taking part in the tenders for the two projects.

Hopefully we will emerge as winner and could start work in the two Middle East countries next year," he added.