Indo Bio Fuels to build $60m biofuel plant in Riau

PT Indo Bio Fuels, a joint venture between a local firm and two Australian companies, will build a biofuel plant in Riau with an investment of about US$60 million, Investor Daily reported Monday.

M. Nur Adib, one of the founders of the company, said in Jakarta Sunday that the biofuel plant, which would be built on a 16-hectare area in Dumai, Riau, would have a capacity to produce about 200,000 tons of biofuel a year or about 600 tons a day.

"The construction of the plan has been started," he said, adding that the company is a joint venture between his own firm and two Australian companies, which have committed to providing up to 80 percent of the funding needs.

Nur, however, refused to unveil the name of Australian companies.

He said that the total investment would reach about $60 million, a half of which would be used to purchase the plant's machineries. "We are still conducting a due diligence on the purchases of the machines from several European companies such as France, Italy and Germany," he added.

According to him, the biofuel plant would use crude palm oil as raw material. (*)