Jasa Marga eyes profits from toll road, more users

JAKARTA. State-owned toll road operator PT Jasa Marga (JSMR) is looking to reap Rp 6.5 trillion (US$671 million) in revenue this year, climbing 16.1 percent from the 2012 projection. It is hoped that new toll roads, a surge in the number of users and higher tariffs will contribute to the projected growth.

In the second half of this year, the publicly listed company plans to open as many as four new toll roads; the Nusa Dua-Ngurah Rai-Benoa line in Bali, Kebon Jeruk-Ciledug line in Jakarta, Gempol-Pandaan line in East Java and the Ungaran-Bawen line in Central Java. The first line to start operations is the Bali line, according to Jasa Marga finance director Reynaldi Hermansjah.

“The Bali toll road will be opened in July in anticipation of the APEC [Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation]. The other roads will follow after that,” he said in Jakarta on Wednesday.Jasa Marga expects the new roads to contribute around Rp 150 billion to this year’s revenue figure. Besides the new toll roads, it hopes an increase in the number of users will play a role as well in achieving the target.

Jasa Marga is looking to facilitate up to 1.2 billion vehicles nationwide in 2013, 9.1 percent higher from the 1.1 billion vehicles last year. “We estimate that 80 percent of the users will still come from the Jabodetabek [Greater Jakarta] toll roads, similar to what happened last year,” Reynaldi said, adding that this year’s revenue target had also included the expected toll road tariff increase.

As previously reported, toll roads across the country are expected to see tariffs increase this year. However, no definite figure has been released by the Toll Road Authority Agency, an agency under the Public Works Ministry.

Jasa Marga will set aside Rp 7 trillion for its capital expenditure (capex) funds in 2013. About 70 percent of the funds will be generated from bank loans and the other 30 percent will come from its internal funds. “The capex budget will be used for the development of our other toll roads. Some have entered the construction stage, while others are still in the process of land clearance,” Reynaldi said.

He added that the company hoped to raise Rp 2.1 trillion by selling debt papers in September. About Rp 1.7 trillion of the funds will be used for refinancing and the remaining Rp 400 billion is earmarked for business expansion.

On Wednesday, the company launched four new toll booths designed to facilitate e-Tollpass users. Using an on-board unit (OBU) and an e-Toll card, the facility enables toll road users to pay without having to stop their vehicles.

The new toll booths are located at the Cengkareng toll gate in Tangerang, Kapuk toll gate in North Jakarta and Cililitan toll gate in East Jakarta. By year-end, Jasa Marga hopes to have about 111 toll booths that are able to process e-Tollpass transactions. Jasa Marga began providing the e-Tollpass, in collaboration with state-owned PT Bank Mandiri, in April 2012.

At the moment, according to Bank Mandiri, there are 9,000 OBU users in the Greater Jakarta area, with total outstanding transactions reaching Rp 325 million. In an effort to boost cashless transactions, the firms will collaborate with state-owned PT Telkom that will produce the OBU units in Indonesia.

Reynaldi said that so far, about 11 percent of its total toll transactions were generated from e-Tollpass and e-Toll card facilities. With the new booths and new OBU units, Jasa Marga hopes the facilities will make up about 30 percent of its transactions within the next two to three years.

Meanwhile, based on its unaudited 2012 reports, the company’s total assets reached Rp 24 trillion. Its liabilities and equities amounted to Rp 8 trillion and Rp 16 trillion, respectively.

The Jakarta Post