Cirebon power plant to start construction in January

By Cepi Setiadi

Petromindo

PT Cirebon Energi Prasarana (CEPR) hopes construction of a planned 1,000 MW coal-fired power plant project in Cirebon, West Java, to start in January of next year following financial close of the project.

President Director of CEPR, Heru Dewanto reiterated on Thursday that financial close of the project is expected in January of next year as the company has obtained the so-called business feasibility guarantee (or SKJU) from the ministry of finance as required by lenders.

"We are targeting to have the ground breaking of the project in January 2017 as well as financial closing," Heru said. ?We expect the project to be completed in 2020.?

CEPR is owned by a number of firms including IDX-listed PT Indika Energy Tbk, Marubeni Corporation, Samtan Co. Ltd, Korea Midland Power Co. Ltd, and Chubu Electric Power Co. Inc.

The power plant project, which is an expansion of the existing 1x660 MW Cirebon coal-fired power plant, will be financed by creditors including JBIC, Export-Import Bank of Korea, and Nippon Export and Investment Insurance.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak