Japan Power interested in Indonesian power sector

Japan Power, one of the major electricity providers in Japan, has expressed its keen interest to invest in the country's power plants as part of the Japanese company's expansion plan in the Indonesian energy and mining sector, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Tuesday.

The visiting president of Japan Power, Yoshihiko Nakagaki said in Jakarta on Monday that the company was exploring the opportunities to build geothermal and gas fired power plants in Java and a coal-fired power plant in Kalimantan.

In addition to the power plants, the Japanese electricity company was also interested in developing a coal mine in Indonesia, he said. "We will soon open a representative office in Jakarta to support the investment plan," he told reporters following a meeting with Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

Yoshihiko was accompanied by Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro during the meeting.

In the meeting, the Vice President briefed the Japanese guest about the investment opportunity in the country's energy sector. According to him, Indonesia, which at present suffers an acute shortage of power supply, needs to build more power plants to cope with the electricity shortage. (*)