META TO WORK WITH JAPANESE FIRMS ON TOLL ROAD

Jakarta, 4 Rabi’ul Awwal 1436/26 December 2014 (MINA) – Publicly listed infrastructure company PT Nusantara Infrastructure (META) says it will team up with two Japanese investors — Japan Expressway International Co. Ltd. (JEXWAY) and West Nippon Expressway Co. Ltd. (W-NEXCO) — to develop its Bintaro Serpong Damai (BSD) toll-road project connecting Serpong and Pondok Aren, both in South Tangerang, Banten.

JEXWAY and W-NEXCO will secure a 4.18-percent share in the project, leaving a 88.94-percent share of the project to META.

The 7.25-kilometer toll road project is commercially viable as average traffic between Serpong and Pondok Aren rose by 6.89 percent to 84,665 vehicles in 2013 compared to the previous year, The Jakarta Post quoted Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting on Thursday.

META general manager for corporate affairs Deden Rochmawati said the collaboration showed the firm’s commitment to developing infrastructure in the country. “This is our strategy as a company to anticipate infrastructure projects that will be pushed during President Joko [“Jokowi”] Widodo’s tenure,” Deden said as quoted by kontan.co.id on Monday.

“We hope that by collaborating with global partners like JEXWAY and W-NEXCO we will be able to open up more room for our company to participate in a number of infrastructure projects in Indonesia.”

The agreement between META and the two Japanese firms was signed last week by META CEO Ramdani Basri, chief representative of W-NEXCO’s Indonesia representative office Yoshihiro Wada and JEXWAY director Hiroshi Saito.

Last week’s signing was a follow-up to the sales and purchase of shares agreement (SPA) between the three companies in Tokyo on Nov. 18.

“The toll-road business has good prospects in Indonesia due to the growing middle class and affluent consumers,” she said.

In addition, she said the company had also collaborated with other global investors such as CapAsia and Providence Equity Partners.(T/P009/P3)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)