Mitsubishi awarded US$340-million EPC contract to build gas power plant

State-owned electricity firm PT PLN said Tuesday it had awarded a US$340-million engineering, construction and procurement contract (EPC) to Mitsubishi Corporation to build a combined cycle power plant in Cilegon, Banten.

"This power plant will have capacity of 740 megawatts," PLN's director of primary energy and power generation Ali Herman told reporters.

Ali did not mention when the construction of the power plant will begin.

He said about 85 percent of the funds required for the power project will come from Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), while the remaining will be from PLN.

"PLN will sell electricity from this power plant at a price of 3.3 US cents per KWh (kilo-watt-hour)," Ali added.

Earlier, PLN's president Eddie Widiono said PLN had already made all the preparations to launch the project and was waiting for the clearance from the oil and gas upstream authority BP Migas.

Eddie said that the JBIC had already agreed in principle to provide $800 million loan for the project.

Eddie also said PLN will buy gas from China National Oil Overseas Cooperation's Pabelokan field of the Southeast Sumatra block.

PLN hopes to finish the project by 2005 to cope with power shortage on Java, the country's most densely populated island, Eddie added. (godang)