Four international firms to provide funds for pipeline project: Bakrie

Publicly listed conglomerate PT Bakrie & Brothers Tbk said Monday that at least four international financial institutions had voiced readiness to provide funds for its US$1.26 pipeline project that will transmit natural gas from East Kalimantan to Central Java.

Bakrie, which is involved in various business ranging from steel manufacturing to telecommunication and plantations and is linked to Coordinating Minister of Public's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie, has won the project after beating out several competitors, including state owned gas distribution firm PT Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN), that is now building pipelines linking Sumatra and Java.

?The investment is expected to be paid back after 10 years of commercial operation,? Bakrie's president director Bobby Gafur Umar said in press conference without naming the financial institutions.

Bakrie is scheduled to finish the construction of the pipeline by 2009, Bobby said.

Bobby said of the $1.26 billion investment for the 1,120-kilometer pipeline project, $400 milion would be spent to procure 380 million tons of steel.

He said most of the pipes would be provided by Bakrie's subsidiary PT Bakrie Pipe Industries. (godang)