Indonesia, China sign MoU on nine smelter projects in eastern Indonesia
Thursday, October 3 2013 - 12:59 AM WIB
The governments of Indonesia and China on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the development of nine smelters and railway facilities in eastern part of Indonesia.
Indonesia?s Industry Minister MS Hidayat and visiting Chinese Trade Minister Gao Hucheng signed the deal at the State Palace Wednesday, witnessed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.
The deal would be followed up by the signing of joint venture agreements between nine Chinese firms and the Indonesian partners that will build the nine smelters and railways to transport coal for planned power plants that would provide the necessary electricity for the smelters, said Hidayat.
?At the level of G to G, it is already signed. Tomorrow (Thursday), there will be signings at the level of B to B in front of the heads of states,? he said.
?On investment, one smelter will cost from US$1 billion to US$1.5 billion,? said Hidayat.
He expected some of the firms to kick of groundbreaking next year and the smelter construction could be completed within 2 and 2.5 years.
The government guarantees the supply of raw materials including coal, bauxite and nickel for the smelters, said Hidayat.
Editing by Reiner SImanjuntak