PLN goes ahead with fast-track program despite financial problem
Thursday, July 19 2007 - 01:55 AM WIB
State-owned oil and gas company PLN will go ahead with its fast-track program to build new coal-fired power plants with total capacity of 10,000 MW within three years despite financial problems, Kompas reported Thursday.
PLN's director for power generation and primary energy Ali Herman Ibrahim also said on Wednesday PLN had completed the bidding process for the contracts to develop 25 power plants outside Java.
Herman said ten of the 25 projects had got tender winners, mostly Chinese companies. But, PLN would the other 15 power projects would be re-auctioned because the prices offered by the bidders had not met the PLN's minimum target.
According to Kompas, the winners of the ten power projects are Shandong Machinery Consortium for PLTU Kepulauan Riau, Shandong Machinery for PLTU Nusa Tenggara Timur, Shandong Machinery for PLTU Sulawesi Tenggara, Wika Consortium for PLTU Sulawesi Utara, Barata Indonesia for PLTU Gorontolo, Shanghai Golden Concord Consortium for PLTU Kalimantan Barat, China National Heavy Machinery Consortium for PLTU Kalimantan Tengah, Jiangxi Consortium for PLTU Lampung and Guangdong Power Consortium for PLTU Sumatera Utara.
As part of the fast-track program, PLN earlier awarded the constracts for the construction for 10 coal-fired power plants in Java, also mostly to Chinese companies. But the company has signed four contracts, that is forr the construction of PLTU Suralaya, PLTU Paiton, PLTU Indramayu and PLTU Labuhan.
The contracts for the other six power plants have not been signed due to uncertainty related to their financing.
Chinese financial institutions have earlier promised to finance the projects but they later backed out due to the absence of the government's guarantee.
Herman said that a special team comprising of PLN's senior executives and the finance ministry's senior officials would visit China next week to renegotiate the financing for the power projects.
PLN would give opportunity for Malaysia's Zelan Consortium to improve its financing scheme for the construction of PLTU Rembang in Central Java. (*)