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ublicly listed construction companies have wrapped up the first quarter with mixed results, with those relying on property projects appearing closer to realizing their targets than those banking on government infrastructure projects.

State-run construction firm Pembangunan Perumahan (PP), for instance, pocketed Rp 6.7 trillion (U$520.23 million) worth of new contracts by the end of March, more than twice its Rp 3.2 trillion target for the quarter '€” according to its recently published written statement.

The company has met around 25 percent of its 2015 new contract target of Rp 27 trillion, or around a 30 percent increase compared with the Rp 20.24 trillion it generated last year.

Most of the projects the company worked on in the first quarter comprised towers and residential projects, such as Mandala City in Makassar (South Sulawesi) worth Rp 2.5 trillion, One Otium Residence Antasari in South Jakarta worth Rp 472 billion, and Gunawangsa apartments in Surabaya (East Java) amounting to Rp 327 billion.

Acset Internusa, which recently became part of diversified conglomerate Astra International Indonesia through an acquisition carried out by its heavy equipment subsidiary United Tractors, is also on track to achieving its full-year target, having reaped Rp 1.3 trillion of its Rp 2 trillion annual target in the first quarter.
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'€œWe aim to reap Rp 17 trillion by the end of June and we are quite confident we can make it happen,'€

The new contract came from Thamrin Nine office and Langham Senopati residential projects, both in Jakarta.

'€œWe have met about 75 percent of our project and we want to focus on meeting our annual target, but there is a possibility that we might want to revise up our target later this year,'€ Ronnie Tan, president director of Acset, told reporters recently.

Meanwhile, state-run construction firm Wijaya Karya (WIKA) booked Rp 4.6 trillion worth of new contracts to date, or nearly a 50 percent increase compared to the Rp 3.11 trillion it recorded in the first quarter of last year.

The first quarter result, however, was only around 15 percent of the company'€™s target for the year of around Rp 30.59 trillion, around a 77 percent increase compared to the Rp 17.31 trillion the company made by the end of last year.

'€œIt is because we rely on government infrastructure projects, we don'€™t have a significant amount of private projects in our portfolio. We have to wait for progress in infrastructure project tenders to boost our new contracts,'€ said Suradi, corporate secretary of the largest publicly listed builder. '€œWe aim to reap Rp 17 trillion by the end of June and we are quite confident we can make it happen,'€ he went on.

WIKA, as previously reported, aims to see projects from the government and fellow state-owned companies make up around 75 percent of its new contracts this year.

Kiswoyo Adi Joe from Investa Saran Mandiri said it was only normal for construction firms'€™ first quarter new contracts to vary from one another, with builders relying on government projects most likely to start slow.

'€œThose with a strong infrastructure profile might only see their contracts surge around the second or third quarter as they have to wait for updates from the government. I am, however, quite optimistic that most construction firms will meet their full-year target given the new government'€™s planned infrastructure projects,'€ he said.

Waskita Karya and Adhi Karya '€” other state-run builders that also mostly work on infrastructure projects '€” pocketed Rp 2.7 trillion and Rp 2 trillion worth of new contracts, respectively, by the end of March '€“ or around 13 percent of their annual target of Rp 20.8 trillion and Rp 15.2 trillion.