Bidding deadline for power projects outside Java extended

The tender committee for the construction of 25 coal-fired power projects to be built outside Java has decided to extend the bidding deadline for the projects due to lack of interest from investors.

The deadline given to bidders to obtain bidding documents has been extended for two weeks until January 23 from January 9 as initially planned, while the deadline for submitting the bidding documents has been also prolonged until February 6.

The auction committee said that the extension of the deadlines was made due to the lack of interest from bidders to take part in the construction of the coal-fired power plants which have a capacity of between 7 MW to 200 MW.

"The government has extended the tender deadline to allow more local companies to take part in the projects," the chairman of the auction committee Yoga Pratomo said on Wednesday.

Under the regulation on tender for the coal-fired power plants outside Java, tender participants can propose the form of financing through export credit scheme or local funds in any form of financing to cover the entire project cost.

Earlier, Yogo Pratomo said that Vice President Yusuf Kalla had instructed PLN to take the advantage of the local funds in cooperation with local banks to finance the power plants to be built outside Java. (godang)