Govt to guarantee Pemalang power project: PLN

The government will guarantee the coal-fired power plant which will be built with a capacity of 2 x 1,000 megawatt in Pemalang, Central Java, a state owned electricity firm PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) senior official has said.

Bambang Praptomo, Director of Planning and Technology, said in Jakarta on Monday that the US$2 billion power plant would be part of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects to receive the government?s guarantee.

?We have received a confirmation from the government that the PLTU Pemalang would be one of projects to receive the government?s supports,? he said, without providing details on the government's supports.

PLTU Pemalang is one of the independent power producers (IPPs) projects to be built by PLN in coping with the electricity shortage in Java. The winner of the tender will sell the electricity to PLN.

Bambang said that the tender for the construction and operation of the Pemalang power plant would be launched in June this year. ?Between July and August, PLN will announce the companies which pass the prequalification process,? he said.

?By the end 2009, we hope we can sign the power purchase agreement (PPA) with the winner of the tender,? Bambang said, adding that the winner would be given a year to seek funding for the project so that the construction of the project could begin in 2011.

The first unit of the power plant is scheduled for operation at the end of 2013, while the second one in the first quarter of 2014.

At least 30 companies have expressed their interest to take part in the tender. They are mostly international firm including Marubeni Corp., Siemens AG, Alstom, YTL Corp., AREVA, Huadian Power International and Datang International Power Generation Co. (bernard)