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n a bid to convince the House of Representatives that they are entitled to stimulus from the government, state-run companies PT Garam and PT Rajawali Nusantara Indonesia (RNI) say they will use the funds to boost their capacities.

The State Logistics Agency (Bulog), meanwhile, said it would use the funds to refinance its debts.

They unveiled their business plans during a hearing at the House where lawmakers criticized some of their programs.

As part of the government'€™s Rp 48 trillion (US$3.8 billion) capital injection for 35 state-owned companies, Bulog, Garam and RNI proposed to get Rp 3 trillion, Rp 300 billion and Rp 280 billion, respectively.

'€œWe plan to use the Rp 300 billion, if approved, to absorb salt produced by local farmers and to boost our output capacity,'€ said Garam president director Usman Perdanakusuma.

Of the Rp 300 billion, Rp 222 billion will be used to buy 400,000 tons of salt produced by local farmers, Rp 64 billion to build a centralized factory in Camplong (Madura), Rp 7 billion to buy geomembrance technology and another Rp 7 billion to develop 5,000 hectares of land in Kupang (East Nusa Tenggara), according to its business plan.

Aside from proposing the stimulus, Usman said he expected the government and the House to help Garam realize its target to fulfill national salt demand, which stands at around 2 million tons per year.

Garam predicted it would supply 400,000 tons of salt this year and aimed to make it 1 million tons if its new field in Kupang was realized, he said.

RNI president director Ismed Hasan Putro said the company would use the Rp 280 billion-stimulus, if approved, to develop an irrigation system in its Subang and Majalengka sugarcane plantations, both in West Java, to boost its sugar output.

Different from Garam and RNI, Bulog, plans to mainly use the Rp 3 trillion-stimulus, if agreed to, to lower its debt-to-equity ratio (DER) by refinancing part of its debts or increasing its assets.

'€œIf we get Rp 3 trillion in stimulus, our assets will amount to Rp 7 trillion, meaning that we will have a lower DER, giving us more room to seek new loans for future operations,'€ Bulog president director Lenny Sugihat said, adding that her company'€™s revenue was heavily pressed by a high loan interest margin last year.

Bulog, which aims to distribute 3.2 million tons of rice this year, recorded total debts of around 6 times its equity in 2014, she said.

The firm'€™s total debts amounted to Rp 21.7 trillion in 2013 with total equity of only Rp 4.2 trillion.

Responding to the business plan, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) lawmaker Darmadi Durianto said he would agree to provide the stimulus if the concerned companies could guarantee better business performance.

'€œI question Bulog'€™s plan to use PMN funds to solely refinance its debts. ['€¦] I think the company should also think about using PMN funds for something more productive, such as expansion,'€ he said, referring to the capital injection by its Indonesian abbreviation.

Aside from absorbing and distributing rice produced by local farmers, which is part of a public service obligation (PSO), Bulog also runs a number of non-PSO businesses, which currently contributes to only 5 to 6 percent of its total revenues.

Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (FITRA) investigation and advocacy head Ucok Sky Khadafi said that while PMN was a way to help SOEs expand, the House should thoroughly scrutinize each SOE so stimulus was not granted to companies affiliated with certain political figures.

'€œThere have been indications that a number of SOEs that have asked to receive PMN are linked to certain political figures,'€ he told The Jakarta Post, refusing to name the concerned enterprises.