Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE
The Indonesian Government is talking to China about investment in IPTN's stalled N250 regional turboprop programme.
The company has been looking for an investor to supply $90 million to complete certification of the aircraft, flight testing of which has been frozen since 1998 due to financial restrictions. The development programme ran into trouble when the International Monetary Fund (IMF)blocked further Government support for IPTN as a condition of its $40 billion-plus rescue package for Indonesia.
"There are political discussions of this type [between Jakarta and Beijing],"says IPTN. The company adds that nothing concrete has been agreed on an industrial level.
The Indonesian Government has recently said that China is expressing interest in supplying the money. Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid has publicly stated that Indonesia and China have agreed to expand co-operation in the production of commercial aircraft, following discussions with Chinese vice-president Hu Jintao during a recent state visit.
Wahid says that the vice-president agreed on an exchange of aerospace technology, and that the countries would work together to develop their industries and market their products. The two N250 prototypes have so far flown about 850h between them. A third prototype, which will be close to the production configuration, is still incomplete, and the company needs to have flown a total of about 1,700 flight test hours for certification.
Jakarta is also considering a debt-for-equity swap to release state-owned IPTN from unsustainable debts.
According to Indonesia's secretary of the finance sector policy committee, Syafruddin , IPTN has debts of about 3,200 billion rupiah, ($383 million) but only 1,700 billion of this is considered sustainable. Syafruddin has told the Indonesian press that IPTN's cash flow problems mean it could not be expected to repay its debt in full.
IPTN vice-president of operations Suroto Dikoen says that the value of the new equity is "now being negotiated" between IPTN and the government, which has hired consultants Deloitte and Touche to assess IPTN's financial state. The government already owns 100% of the manufacturer, but this will effectively increase the value of the equity held by the Government.
However, aviation analysts believe that this will do little to improve IPTN's overall viability. o tions.ÿÄIªåÂ$å gN@Ù
Source: Flight International
