GOVT TO FORM STEERING C'TTEE ON MILITARY HARDWARE PROCUREMENT

Jakarta, June 4 (ANTARA) - The government will soon form an inter-departmental policy-making and steering committee to draw up a long-term plan for the procurement of military hardware, a state enterprises ministry official said.

"The members of the committee will be made up of representatives of the ministries of state enterprises, defense and others," Said Didu, secretary of the state enterprises ministry said here Wednesday night.

Didu said seven strategic state enterprises would be directed to develop their capabilities to provide military hardware. The companies were PT Pindad, PT Dirgantara Indonesia, PT Dahana, PT LEN, PT PAL Indonesia, PT Inti, and PT Krakatau Steel.

Besides those strategic state enterprises, the committee, which was to be formed by the government, would also find ways to obtain the finances needed to procure the needed hardware.

Didu said the country's state banks were actually ready to provide funds for military hardware procurement but they needed the government's support in he form of guarantees.

He also said in meeting the defense ministry's military hardware procurement proposals, the government had a tendency to fund only imported weapons and other equipment.

According to Didu, the strategic state enterprises would now be directed to produce such military equipment as tanks, light and heavy arms, detonators, ships, and aircraft.

"The procurement of military hardware should be planned in such a way that it will meet the required technological standards as well as quantities," Didu said.

Thereby, he said, there would be synchronization between the need for military hardware and the state enterprises' production capacity.

Didu said procurement of military hardware was a very important matter and therefore the problems affecting it should be solved in the best possible way.

He said the synergistic concept of strategic state enterprises serving as military hardware providers was already raised by former President BJ Habibie when he was the minister of research and technology, but the concept was ignored by international financing institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF).