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Gold/Mining/Energy : Unitec Int. Controls Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bobby Yellin who wrote (262)	4/2/1998 8:47:00 PM
From: John B. Smyth	Respond to of 856

Hi Bobby, I arrived back in Vancouver this afternoon. I'm a little "punchy" as I don't sleep on aircraft or other vehicles in motion, but I wanted to give you the last update on what I found from a grass roots viewpoint. I met with senior management and engineering staff with PLN's Jakarta Raya and Tangerang Distribusi. Their capital budget has been cancelled and they are in the process of reducing their operating expenses by 50%. They confirmed what I mentioned earlier that their operating budget has been eroded as they buy much of their energy (oil & gas) in U.S. dollars and sell in Rupiah. The government has not allowed them to increase their prices, but has advanced US$30 million by way of a soft loan. I understand this will cover their needs until June. I inquired as to their load, and found that they are only down 13% (approximately 400MW). As this is Indonesia's largest distribution center, and covers numerous industrial, commercial as well as residential areas, it is a good indicator that the down turn is not as drastic as reflected in the monetary swing. I also met with Findo's Bank. The Manager advised that the RI Government was consolidating eight of the government owned banks into three. International banks are not accepting RI Bank L/Cs for the moment. They are placing the bonds for the Wonorejo project on behalf of the Findo, Unitec, Mega Eltra Consortium solely on the strength of Findo. I read a cute article in the Asia Review magazine on the plane. It quoted a Malaysian farmer who was protesting to the Malaysian Agricultural Ministry: "We feed our chickens with US dollars, but all we get is Ringgit". Regards, John