Cilacap lawmakers support plan to develop power project

The local Council of Cilacap regency in Central Java has given its support to a consortium assigned to develop a 2x300 coal-fired power plant in the area, the Bisnis Indonesia daily reported.

The approval was given during a meeting last week between lawmakers and the consortium.

The paper said that the political support should help accelerate the development of the power project, which is expected to help avert looming power crisis in Java.

The consortium, whose members include two local companies PT Geo Dipa Energi and PT Sumber Energi Sakti Prima, and a China-based firm called Chengda Engineering Corp, plans to start the project next year and hopes to complete it by 2006.

"The signing of an agreement with the Chinese investor has been completed, and we're now entering a physical preparation stage," Irzawadi Agus, president commissioner of Geo Dipa.

The project will cost around US$510 million, of which some 70 percent of the financing will come from the Chinese investor.(Amoros)