BTN Acquisition Should not Disadvantage Property Business

Jakarta (Antara) - The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) said the planned acquisition of state-owned saving bank BTN by Bank Mandiri should not disadvantage housing developers, which so far enjoyed BTN's cooperation. "The housing business calls for long-term investments. Who will be responsible if it is mismanaged only because of the acquisition," Kadin Deputy Chairman for Empowerment of Least Development Region Natsir Manyur said here on Wednesday. He said about 70 percent of the developers outside Jakarta had business projects in housing and construction. The presence of banks, which handle matters relating to the housing sector, was vitally important to support business. "We can only provide inputs because the two banks (Bank Mandiri and Bank BTN) are owned by the government, Natsir said. BTN is a state-owned bank, which so far provided loans for housing projects. He said business players wanted banks to be segmented as specializing on housing or on industries, not a 'supermarket' bank that served everything, which can later create restlessness. Meanwhile, Kadin's Deputy Chief for Venture Capital and Alternative Funding Irwi Indiastuti Tjahyani said housing had large business prospects so that business was quite profitable for banks. He said in the ASEAN Economic Community era, foreign banks will expand to the housing market of Indonesia. State-owned Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan said the acquisition of BTN was intended to expand market shares so that it will be able to channel housing credits while reducing the backlog. (*)