Jasa Marga sets aside Rp 20t for expansion

JAKARTA. State-owned highway company PT Jasa Marga will begin work on projects worth trillions of rupiah, helping the company maintain its domination in toll road operations.

Jasa Marga President director Adityawarman said the company was still able to support equity injection amounting to Rp 15 trillion-Rp 20 trillion. In every project, Jasa Marga usually supports up to 30 percent of total investment with internal funding and the remaining 70 percent with external financing, including loans.

“Our ability to inject Rp 15 trillion to Rp 20 trillion will be equivalent with toll roads of between 100 to 150 kilometers in length. However, length also depends on various factors, including the price of materials,” Adityawarman said on Monday.

Finance director Reynaldi Hermansjah said the amount was not the company’s maximum capacity.

“If we need more than that, we can do a secondary offering,” Reynaldi said.

Jasa Marga currently operates 545 kilometers of toll roads, which is equal to 73 percent of total highways in the country. The company is currently working on the development of nine new toll roads with a combined length of 211 kilometers.

Jasa Marga is expecting to finish and commence operations of three toll roads later this year. The toll roads are Nusa Dua-Ngurah Rai-Benoa in Bali, Kebun Jeruk-Ciledug section in Jakarta, and Ungaran-Bawean section in Central Java.

Jasa Marga earned Rp 2.78 trillion only from the collection of toll road fees in the first half of the year, increasing by 3.3 percent year-on-year from Rp 2.69 trillion, thanks to the increasing number of vehicles passing its highways.

Jasa Marga’s total operating revenue was worth Rp 4.75 trillion during the January to June period, increasing by 43 percent year-on-year.

Despite growing revenue, Jasa Marga’s net profits dropped around 17 percent to Rp 760 billion in the first half of the year from Rp 925 billion in the same period last year.

Reynaldi attributed the declining net profits to higher costs due to the company’s massive expansion. (Raras Cahyafitri)