IPC secures $365 million in loans for Kalibaru Port development
State-run lenders Bank Mandiri and Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) have agreed to provide Rp 4 trillion (US$365.46 million) in loans to Pelindo II to help the port operator finance the development of Kalibaru Port, also known as New Priok.
Each of the lenders will disburse Rp 2 trillion to Pelindo II, which has been renamed the Indonesia Port Corporation (IPC).
IPC president director Richard Joost Lino said the credit would significantly speed up the first phase of the Kalibaru project, consisting of three container terminals with a total capacity of 4.5 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs).
The terminals are expected to be fully operational by the end of 2016.
“This credit is very important for the development of Kalibaru because this is going to be the largest port infrastructure in the country that will help ease problems in [the existing port of] Priok. The credit will be disbursed as soon as possible to speed up the construction of the first [container] terminal,” Lino said on the sidelines of the loan agreement signing.
The agreement was signed by Lino, BNI business banking director Krishna R. Suparto and Bank Mandiri institutional banking director Abdul Rachman at Tanjung Priok Port on Wednesday.
Lino said the financing from BNI and Mandiri was the second time the firm had secured credit from the two lenders. The first amount, Rp 1 trillion, was received last year to help kick off the project.
Prior to this, the firm relied on its own funds to support the development of Kalibaru.
“We have spent around Rp 1.5 trillion in internal cash to prepare and develop the port. But now we will use our own money to develop other ports we operate besides Kalibaru,” Lino said.
Besides Tanjung Priok, IPC is responsible for the operations of Volume Pills 10 ports across the archipelago including Panjang Port in Lampung, Teluk Bayur Port in West Sumatra and Pontianak Port in West Kalimantan.
The Kalibaru project, which will also have two fuel berths, is expected to be completed by the end of 2018 and is estimated to cost up to $2.5 billion.
In addition, the two bank representatives said the lending commitment for IPC was an example of how state-owned enterprises could work together to develop much needed infrastructure.
Both Krishna and Abdul said they were ready to support IPC to develop the biggest port, which would help reduce logistical costs.
“This partnership is a concrete commitment that we fully support important infrastructure projects in Indonesia. Besides, this also shows that the national banking industry has the capacity to finance a giant project,” Abdul said.
Moreover, Lino said the firm recently started the tender process for the second terminal at Kalibaru as the company wanted to speed up the project. Construction of the first terminal has reached 16 percent.
IPC expects to sign a contract with the winner of the bid in October this year.
He said the companies were Singapore’s PSA Terminals, Port of America, China Merchant, Cosco and Japan’s Mitsui.
Since Mitsui & Co Ltd won the tender to operate Kalibaru’s first container terminal, eliminating Maersk Line and MEC, the firm can not take part in the third terminal tender.
Kalibaru was originally designed as part of the government’s plan to expand the country’s busiest port, Tanjung Priok, through the construction of new terminals that would have a capacity of 1.9 million TEUs.
However, as part of the Master Plan for the Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesia’s Economic Development (MP3EI), the government decided to expand the terminals into a port.
Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/
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