Pertamina asks BPKP to audit Karaha Bodas project
Tuesday, April 23 2002 - 02:09 AM WIB
Pertamina?s General Manager for Geothermal Development, Suroto said in Jakarta on Monday that an application letter had been sent to BPKP after the state oil company received to a court order to pay compensation to the developers of the geothermal power project.
"We want to know if the claim is not exaggerated," he was quoted as saying by Koran Tempo.
An international arbitrary court recently ordered Pertamina to pay compensation of US$261 million to Karaha Bodas Company for the suspension of its geothermal power project in West Java. But Pertamina said that the value of the compensation payment was too high.
According sources, the total spending that had been spent by developers from the start of the construction in 1996 until the suspension of the project in 1988 reached a total of US$92.2 million, much lower than the $261 million claimed by its developers.
The geothermal power project, partly owned by U.S. based companies Caithness Energy LLC, FPL Group Inc, Japan?s Tomen Power and local company PT Sumarah Dayasakti, was suspended in early 1998 as part of the government?s retrenchment measure to cope with the country?s financial crisis.
The project was developed in cooperation with Pertamina, while the power to be generated from the geothermal power plants would be sold to state owned electricity company PLN under a long-term contract.(*)