| Home |
| About Us |
| Business Units |
| Human Resources |
| Corporate Social Responsibility |
| News |
| Sitemap |
| Contact Us |
| Search |
| Career |
Statistics
Visitors: 695744
| Bosowa Keeps Expanding in Times of Crisis |
|
|
| Tuesday, 24 February 2009 | |
|
Volume 3 March, 2009. GLOBE ASIA Page: 20 Despite the current global economic crisis, Bosowa Group continues to expand its business operations. It has recently inaugurated a new cement plant in Batam called PT.Semen Bosowa Batam. The plant, which began operation in the middle of 2008, is expected to reach a production level of around 1.2 million tons this year. Production can be gradually increased up to 1.5 million tons. The group already has a cement plant in Maros, South Sulawesi, which produces around 1.8 million tons a year. Semen Bosowa Batam can also process several types of industrial waste products to become additive material for cement production. “This will create additional revenue for us because we could obtain fee from several manufacturing plants in Batam which has expressed interest to process their waste materials.
“Previously, they have to spend a lot of money to get rid of the waste,” says Semen Bosowa Batam Head of Production Basri Muslim. The company processes clinker into cement. It imports the clinker from Malaysia and Thailand. Around 50% of the firm’s cement products are allocated for the export markets in South East Asia. Company Head of Finance Dahlan Alif Nurdin says that demand in the Riau islands is also quite huge. Last year demand reached around 800.000 tons, with an average growth rate of 15% per-year. “It’s huge market,” he says. “Although we just entered the market here (Batam), we could already grab around 30% of market share in the Riau Islands,” says Dahlan, adding that the company had also clinched contract until June 2009 with a number of buyers in Singapore. Chief Executive Officer of Bosowa Corporation Erwin Aksa says that the group invested around $60 million in the Batam cement plant, and plans to add another $10 million to finance the expansion of several infrastructure facilities such as port, jetty and conveyor belt. Bosowa a well diversified group with operations among others in manufacturing, plantation, infrastructure and property, also plans to build new cement plants each in Sumatera, Java and Papua. “That’s our long-term plan.” The immediate plan is to sell 30% of PT.Semen Bosowa Batam shares via an initial public offering (IPO). If the stock market recovers, hopefully this plan could be realized in the middle of 2009,” says the eldest son of group founder Aksa Mahmud. Part of the proceeds from the IPO would be used to finance the construction of a power plant in Batam. |
