PLN set to build Cilacap power plant without Pertamina participation

State electricity company PLN will go ahead with its plan to build a 600-megawatt coal power plant in Cilacap, Central Java, although state oil and gas firm Pertamina has decided to quit the project plan, a government official said Tuesday as reported by Suara Pembaruan daily.

PLN has to carry out the Cilacap power project so as to minimize power supply deficits on Java Island in 2006, the paper quoted as saying Ali Herman Ibrahim, director of power generation and primary energy affairs at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.

PLN and Pertamina had initially planned to build the power plant through their joint venture PT. Geo Dipa. The oil firm withdrew from the project plan reportedly because it wanted to concentrate on its core businesses.

Pertamina however was willing to lend its idle plot of land in Cilacap for the power project.

Suara Pembaruan said Wednesday that Bank Of China was ready to cover 70 percent of the US$530 million required for the power project.

The project was scheduled for construction in 2004 and was set for completion in 2006. (*)