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The losses suffered by manufacturing firms due to the floods
that have paralyzed the capital since last Friday may reach more than
Rp 1 trillion (US$105.2 million).
"We're still calculating the losses. It will take us at least two weeks
to do this before we can file insurance claims. But, we estimate that
it will cost us not less than Rp 1 trillion," Indonesian Employers
Association (Apindo) chairman Sofyan Wanandi told The Jakarta Post on
Wednesday.
State planning minister and National Development Planning Board
chairman Paskah Suzetta said earlier that the floods had likely
inflicted losses of about Rp 4.1 trillion on the economy.
The planning board said it would announce the actual losses within the
next two weeks.
Apindo said factories in industrial estates in Bekasi, Tangerang,
Pulogadung and Kerawang had mostly been forced to halt operations due
to the flooding.
At the height of the floods, many workers had been unable to get to
work. Electricity and telephone services had also been cut, while
diesel generators turned out to be useless as timely supplies of
additional diesel were unavailable.
"It was the worst flood disaster to have affected manufacturing
industry in the last 30 years," Sofyan said.
Apindo secretary-general Djimanto said capacity utilization by
manufacturing firms in Greater Jakarta dropped by 15 percent and 30
percent on Friday and Saturday, respectively. Things got even worse
Monday, when it declined by 50 percent due to the flooding.
The Indonesian Textile Association (API) reported that 16 garment
factories in Pulogadung, East Jakarta, had been paralyzed and that
losses were estimated to have reached US$9.6 million.
Dozens of food and beverage companies halted operations as the homes of
hundreds of thousands of their employees were inundated, the industry
association said. Losses suffered by the industry were estimated at
about Rp 100 billion.
Sofyan said manufacturing companies were now focusing on resuming the
flow of exports and imports through Tanjung Priok Port, which has also
been seriously affected by the flooding
On Wednesday, only 3,500 containers arrived at the port, far lower than
the 9,000 to 10,000 containers that arrived on normal days.
Sofyan said that manufacturing firms were not only concerned about the
losses and damage caused by the flooding, but also about possible
complaints from disgruntled overseas buyers about late delivery.
"We don't know. Companies overseas may complain if we fail to deliver
the goods on time," he said.
He expressed the hope that state electricity company PLN would
immediately restore power supplies to flooded areas as many factories
in Pulogadung and Cilincing, both in North Jakarta, were still blacked
out.
"We can deal with the transportation problems, but there is nothing we
can do about electricity and fuel supplies," he stressed.
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