JAKARTA. Publicly listed steel giant PT Krakatau Steel (KRAS) is seeking to establish an industrial estate, the first phase of which is to be completed by the end of 2015.

Krakatau president director Irvan K. Hakim said on Wednesday that the state-owned company had acquired 100 hectares of the 500 it required for the first phase of the development.

“There will be two phases of the estate’s development. The first phase will see us develop 500 hectares of land and is slated to be completed at least by the end of next year,” he said.

The second phase will commence soon after, with the development of another 500 hectares of land. The whole estate will be available for use by other companies as well, according to Irvan.

However, he declined to reveal the estate’s location and the amount of investment needed for it, citing the ongoing progress.

“The estate development is part of our effort to increase contributions from our non-steel segments, so they can complement the steel business when it’s on a downward business trend,” he said.

Krakatau’s first-half financial report showed that it recorded an 18 percent drop to US$909.2 million in revenues and it also suffered from $88.68 million in net losses. The company attributed the negative performance to a global decline in demand for steel and to volatility in foreign exchange rates.

Editor: Barratut Taqiyyah Rafie