"Plantation holding firm officially established"

JAKARTA. State-Owned Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan says a state-run plantation holding firm has been established after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono signed the presidential decree (PP) on the holding firm on Sept. 18.

"The PP was signed by the President last week before leaving for a number of countries for his state visit," Dahlan told reporters in Jakarta on Monday.

"We are going to immediately conduct an RUPS [a shareholders general meeting] in each [state-run plantation firm] PT Perkebunan Nusantara to further discuss how to implement this PP."

According to the signed PP, PT Perkebunan Nusantara III will serve as the holding company for PT Perkebunan Nusantara I to PT Perkebunan Nusantara XIV.

He said that the establishment of the holding firm would help strengthen the businesses of state plantation firms, enabling them to compete with bigger private plantation companies.

"Their assets are much bigger than private companies. In addition to that, the holding firm formation will increase efficiency," he said, adding that the idea of Indonesia having a state-run plantation holding firm went back to 2002.

The former state-run electricity firm CEO said that red tape bureaucracy and political intervention had delayed the implementation of the idea.

"Thank God we’ve pulled this off before the Cabinet of the President ends," he continued.