Hitachi Construction eyes RI heavy equipment industry

Japan construction giant Hitachi Construction Machinery is eyeing to expand into heavy equipment industry and insulated circuit breaker market in Indonesia, the Director General of Advance Technology Based High Industry Budi Darmadi said as quoted by Bisnis Indonesia.

?I've also asked them to consider investment on turbines with the capacity of above 20 MW, as we've got investments on those below 20 MW,? he said after meeting the directors of PT Hitachi Construction Machinery Indonesia on Tuesday(22/1).

As the Indonesian government committed to provide up to 53,000MW of electricity in 2020, at the investment value of US$90 billion, high capacity turbine and insulated circuit breakers will be highly needed.

Budi also requested Hitachi to base the construction of heavy equipment units locally. "Because the domestic demands for heavy equipment are quite high, especially dump trucks, which we are importing about 5,000-6,000 units annually, and up to 7,200 units are made locally," he said.

Hitachi did not state their investment commitment, but having a locally based heavy equipment factory already in operation, their expansion plan is considered highly likely.

Previously, South Korean based Doosan Group has also stated their plans to invest in shipping industry, while another Japan based Marubeni Corporation have also stated their plans to enter RI's textile, power plant, shipping and water treatment business in the long run.(*)