Govt urged to soon license PLN?s power projects in Banten, C. Java

State electricity firm PLN has asked the government to soon issue licenses to it to build one combined cycle power plant in Cilegon and one coal-fired power plant in Cilacap with combined capacity of 1,450 megawatts (MW), Suara Pembaruan daily reported Monday.

?We hope that the government will issue licenses to us before the end of this year,? PLN president director Eddie Widiono told the paper Sunday.

PLN had submitted to the government a formal request for the licenses, Eddie said.

The minister of energy and mineral resources, the coordinating minister for the economy, the chairman of national development planning agency (BAPENAS) and the minister of finance have authority to decide on PLN?s request, Eddie noted.

The Cilegon plant, located in Banten province, would have capacity to generate 750 MW of electricity, while the Cilacap of the Central Java province facility would have capacity of 700 MW, Eddie noted.

PLN would finance the construction of the Banten plant with export credits. Meanwhile, the Central Java plant would be built on a plot of land owned by state oil and gas firm Pertamina using funds from private investors, Eddie noted. He did not name the investors however.

Eddie said the government should allow his company to directly appoint contractors to build the Cilegon power plant so that the project could start as soon as possible.

He said PLN had signed an agreement with PT Palembang Timur, a consortium of several investors, to build the Cilacap power plant.

Suara Pembaruan said Palembang Timur was 90 percent owned by China National Chemical Corporation and Chengdu Engineering Corporation of China. An Indonesia company, PT Sumbergas Sakti Prima, owns the remaining 10 percent, the paper said.

Construction of new power plants is crucial to PLN which struggling to cope with possible power supply crisis on Java Island in 2006. (*)