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Mr Nyoto Irawan

The company was established in 1982 but we only began commercial production in 1984. The company started with only 40 people and with second hand, used equipment that I acquired from Taiwan. In 1987 we acquired one of our competitors in Indonesia. Since then we have grown rapidly and subsequently were awarded with a major sewerage project in Bandung in 1987. In 1989 we received another large scale project in Jakarta for a water pipeline. Also, I was approached by Nippon Hume of Japan and began collaborating with them as well as with Bonna Sabla of France for a joint venture.

Our main product line is in spun pipes and we introduced this system to Indonesia in 1984. In 1989 when we secured the large pressure pipe project, we carried out the project in partnership with Hume of Australia and continued to collaborate until the Asian crisis of 1997-8. Today, the company stands alone without international partners. I have five plants across Indonesia and have grown from 40 people to over 1500 people in total.

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Mr Nyoto Irawan

The Indonesian government launched the Public Private Partnership arrangements for infrastructure projects. In highway construction there were over 20 projects being tendered and won by investors but only one is actually moving forward right now due to land acquisition issues. Despite this, infrastructure will be a big area of growth for us in Indonesia and we have a very positive outlook on this.

Property in Jakarta is also booming and I believe this is not a bubble as banks have been very prudent on lending so this is another area of potential for us given the need for supporting infrastructure for new property developments.

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Mr Nyoto Irawan

I have always believed in and focused on quality; contractors know us for our quality and for being expensive as a result. We maintain our prices in order to always offer the highest levels of quality; we are not prepared to set the quality for the price. To achieve this it means we must keep updating and upgrading ourselves. I regularly visit companies around the world to learn about new technologies being implemented. Our staff are also pushed to always be innovative and so we are continuously bringing new products into the market that our competitors then copy.

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Mr Nyoto Irawan

Our latest product is the M System which is an environmentally friendly product and has been in high demand.

A further area of interest is in septic tanks as Indonesia does not have a sewage network and relies on septic tanks. At the moment we are cooperating with Universitas Indonesia on how to develop environmentally friendly septic tanks.

Many people believe that developments in civil engineering are slow and therefore the industry is static. However we introduced a concrete jacking pipe and carried out micro tunnelling before anyone else so I do not believe this to be true. We got assistance from Australia to develop the pressure pipe but even they had not developed this type of product before. This pressure pipe has been in operation for over 20 years now.

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Mr Nyoto Irawan

With Hume of Australia we joined together and our first project was to supply a pressure pipe to a large scale power plant in Hong Kong. In 2011, before the earthquake and Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster, we also exported such pipes for nuclear power plants in China. In the past, exports have also gone to Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines. Certain products are also exported to Japan on a monthly basis as we still have commercial relationships there through our former Japanese partner. Our new products are being exported to India and African countries such as Kenya and I believe there are further areas of opportunity in Africa for the future.

Our strategy now is to focus on Indonesia. I was looking at Myanmar and Vietnam a couple of years ago but entering these markets is very difficult. The next two years will therefore focus on Indonesia’s five main islands. New highways are being constructed in Sumatra and Sulawesi and Bali is also constructing a new highway to serve the tourism industry.

For joint ventures, I am always open and believe it is important for Indonesia to always be open to foreign companies to encourage competition as long as it is fair.

New technology is what we are most interested in, particularly for environmentally friendly products. There are many areas to explore in Indonesia with potential partners such as sewerage and clean water technology. Another areas we are about to move into is railway sleepers which requires you to be certified by the government. For foreign companies to obtain such permits it can be long and difficult so working with us as a local partner is the best way to enter the Indonesian market.

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Mr Nyoto Irawan

Indonesia has achieved investment grade status and I believe the country will be a major emerging market in the ASEAN region and globally. More foreign companies need to come here and they are welcome. I also hope that Indonesians will take a more positive view on this and not see investors as just taking our natural resources.

Infrastructure here is still at an infant stage, compared to China we have less than 1,000 km of highway whereas China has over 45,000 km. Therefore you can see the potential of Indonesia’s growth in this area.