Govt to simplify the tender mechanism for new power plants

The government will soon issue a regulation to simplify the mechanism of tender for new power plants so that the process of the tender for such projects could be accelerated to maximally one year from about two years at present, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Coordinating Minister for Economy Aburizal Bakrie said that all the legal barriers which hampered the process of the tender for new power plants would be removed to ensure that the tender process could be completed in 360 days or a year.

The new regulation would also provide a legal protection to investors intending to build power plants in the country so that the contract it has signed, especially related to power prices, could not be changed only because there is an allegation that the company is involved in “KKN” or corruption, cronyism and nepotism, Aburizal said.

With the regulation, the government has the power to appoint companies to build power plants in provinces which suffer a serious shortage of power supply such as North Sumatra, Riau, West Sumatra, South Sumatra, South Kalimantan, North Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, Maluku, West Nusa Tenggara, Papua and East Nusa Tenggara. (*)