T

he 54-kilometer long Ciawi-Sukabumi toll road in West Java, which is expected to ease traffic congestion along the route actively used for logistics distribution, will begin construction in October this year.

PT MNC Infrastruktur Utama, part of the MNC Group conglomerate, will be working on construction of the toll road, beginning with the first phase, the 15-km Ciawi-Lido (Bogor) section.

'€œWe estimate that by October, we will have acquired 90 percent of the total land needed so we can begin construction,'€ MNC Infrastruktur president director Syafril Nasution said recently.

The total investment needed to construct the first phase of the toll road reached around Rp 2 trillion (US$172.71 million), according to him.

'€œHalf of the required funds will be taken from our internal cash, and the rest will be funded by bank loans,'€ he said, adding that the company was still negotiating with potential banks.

MNC Infrastruktur Utama currently holds three toll road concession permits, namely Pasuruan-Probolinggo, Cimanggis-Cibitung and Ciawi-Sukabumi.

The company took over the permits after acquiring the entire 99.99 percent stake in toll road company PT Bakrie Toll Road, a former subsidiary of the Bakrie Group until 2012.

Bakrie Toll Road at that time held five concession permits, including Kanci-Pejagan and Pejagan-Pemalang, in addition to the aforementioned three toll road projects.

Out of the five projects, only 35 km of the Kanci-Pejagan toll road has been completed, having commenced operations in 2010.

Earlier this year, state-owned construction firm PT Waskita Karya acquired MNC'€™s shares in Pejagan Pemalang Toll Road (PPTR), the toll road operator of Pejagan-Pemalang.

Syafril, however, said that the company had aimed to buy back the shares within the next three years, after toll road construction was complete.

'€œIn line with MNC'€™s commitment to developing the country'€™s infrastructure, we aimed to keep our shares [in PPTR],'€ he said.

In a statement published on the Indonesian Stock Exchange website, Waskita says that the buyback shares are worth Rp 458.8 billion, or 34.6 percent higher than the initial price of Rp 300 billion.

'€œWe will evaluate the share value, certainly we will consider how much Waskita has already spent,'€ he said.

Syafril also said the company expected to begin construction of the Pasuruan'€“Probolinggo toll road by next year.

'€œWe will soon begin the land acquisition process for the toll road, expecting it to start construction by next year,'€ he said.

MNC Investama (BHIT), the parent company of MNC Infrastruktur, recorded Rp 6.1 trillion in revenue during the first half of this year, a 9 percent increase from Rp 5.6 trillion in the same period last year.

About 54 percent of the revenue during the January-June period derived from BHIT'€™s content and advertising based media. Subscriber-based media contributed to 26 percent of the revenue or equivalent to Rp 1.6 trillion.