Damri Ready To Business Expansion To Timor Leste

Jakarta, Jan 23 (Antara) - State-owned freight company, Perum Damri, is ready to expand its overseas business into public transport operation in Dili, Timor Leste. "The request for Damri to operate public transport in Dili came about through the General Directorate for Transportation of Timor Leste. We had a meeting. We just need a follow up," stated the President Director of Perum Damri Agus Suherman Subrata after he met the State-Owned Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan in Jakarta on Thursday. Agus pointed out that for the initial assessment, Damri was asked to operate 10 routes from Dili to some surrounding areas. According to Agus, so far, no agreement has been signed, but in principle, Damri and the General Directorate for Transportation of Timor Leste agreed to take further action. Agus explained that Damri had to make certain preparations including allocation of Rp174 billion in 2014 for the procurement of 25 buses in Timor Leste. "The budget has been prepared from internal funds and bank loans," he explained. Agus stated that it has reported the expansion plans to the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry as the proxy of shareholder of Damri and the Transportation Ministry as the technical ministry. "The State-Owned Ministry has encouraged Damri to expand to Timor Leste with business-to-business patterns," he pointed out. Agus added that a follow up discussion of the expansion will be carried out in February 2014. "We need to learn the laws of Timor Leste. The cooperation between the two countries has been relatively easy because Damri has already been there and has held assets in Timor Leste, when it was still part of Indonesia. However, we also need an investment security there," he explained. According to Agus, the other aspect that should be taken into consideration include the provision of land and labor system as per the Damri crew requirements, fuel readiness, spare parts readiness and rules regarding transportation subsidies prevailing in the country. Reporting by Royke Sinaga.