Japan?s JBIC agrees to finance two massive power projects

Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) have finally agreed to provide loans for Indonesia?s two power projects which include the expansion of steam power plant Muara Karang in North Jakarta and the construction of steam power plant Muara Tawar, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Friday.

Mardianto Kadri, the director for electricity development, said that the bank had submitted loan disbursement schedules to the government. "The funding of the two projects has been approved and the initial stage for the project will start in 2004," he was quoted as saying.

Under the existing plan, the generating capacity of the Muara Karang plant will be increased from 300 MW at present to 720 MW. The redesigning is needed for the power plant, which has operated for more than 25 years.

Muara Tawar is one of PLN?s projects to build new power plants. The steam power plant will have a generating capacity of 220 MW. According to the initial plan, the power plant will have a generating capacity of 300 MW but it was revised upon the suggestion of JBIC.

Sources said that the funds which would be disbursed by JBIC for the two projects would reach about US$800 million but they were not certain if the funds represented for the whole packages or only parts of the projects. (*)