JBIC ready to provide loan for bio-fuel projects
Tuesday, February 6 2007 - 04:40 AM WIB
"Japanese Prime Minister has instructed JBIC to extend loan for the development of bio-fuel. The amount of loan that JBIC will provide is unlimited," said director general for international finance department of JBIC for Asia and Oceania Toyoaki Fujita on the sidelines of a workshop on "Strategic Partnership on Bio-fuel" in Jakarta Monday.
Toyoaki said that if the bio-fuel project launched by the state is feasible to develop, then JBIC will provide funding in the form of loan. "We have a lot of funds and we'd like to know how many projects in need of funding," he said.
On the interest rate for the loan, he said that JBIC would provide a more attractive interest rate compared to that set for commercial loan. However, the fixed interest rate for the loan cannot be disclosed. "The clear thing is that the funding to be given is not a soft loan, nor a commercial loan," he said.
Currently, JBIC has provided funding for the development of bio-fuel among others to state oil and gas firm PT Pertamina and state electricity company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN).
Apart from bio-fuel, JBIC has also expressed its interest in funding alternative energy projects, such as geothermal power plants, hydropower plants, solar power plants and wind-generated power plants.
Meanwhile, Pertamina's head of fuel division Djaelani Sutomo said under its business plan, the company has several projects focused on developing bio-fuel. However, to carry out bio-fuel development projects, Pertamina needs government's support in terms of a policy on price of crude palm oil (CPO) that is conducive to bio-fuel development projects.
CPO is used as feedstock for the bio-fuel. "Currently, the price of CPO is high, which will cause an increase in production cost," he said. (*)