Indonesia's Pelindo I secures $385m in bank loans for two projects

Two 12-year term deals were signed with Bank Mandiri, Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) and Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) at the State Palace, witnessed by President Joko Widodo and State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) Minister Rini Soemarno.

Under the first, Pelindo I will get IDR1.87trn in financing from Mandiri to develop its Belawan International Container Terminal (BICT) in Medan, North Sumatra province.

The second package will see the port operator receiving IDR3.18trn under a syndicated loan from Mandiri, BNI and BRI for the development of its Kuala Tanjung Port located in Batubara regency, North Sumatra.

According to Pelindo I president director Bambang Eka Cahyana, the company will need IDR2.67trn to develop the BICT until its expected completion in late 2017.

“The state banks will provide 70% of the needed funds, while Pelindo I and [state construction firm] Wijaya Karya will provide the rest as joint investors in the BICT,” he said.With the upgrade, BICT's capacity will rise to 2m teu a year from 1.3m teu currently.

Work at Kuala Tanjung Port will also be carried out in several stages, with the first phase estimated to be completed before March 2017. The first stage, Bambang said, would cost IDR4.54trn. Financing is expected to follow a similar structure, with state banks accounting for 70% of the total costs, and the rest coming from Pelindo I and state construction firms Pembangunan Perumahan and Waskita Karya.

“When the first stage is completed, Kuala Tanjung will have a capacity of 500,000 teu and 3.5m tonnes for liquid bulk. We will proceed with the next stage after that,” Bambang said.