Prequalification stage for power plant projects outside Java completed

State electricity company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) said that the pre-qualification stage of the tender for the construction of coal-fired power plants outside Java under government's crash program has been completed with 75 companies out of 94 bidders have passed pre-qualification.

Following the pre-qualification stage, they will be invited to propose bidding price. In terms of capacity, the tender for the construction of coal-fired power plant projects are divided into three classes: 7-25 MW, 50-65 MW and 100-200 MW.

For the power plant projects under the 7-25 MW class, out of 44 bidders that have submitted bidding document, 32 have passed the pre-qualification stage, for projects under projects under 50-65 MW class, out of 23 bidders that submitted biding document, 21 have passed and for projects under 100-200 MW class, 22 bidders out of 26 that have submitted bidding document have passed the pre-qualification.

Head of the team of Tender for the construction of coal-fired power plant projects outside Java Nyoman Winarta said in Jakarta Friday that PLN was considering the possibility of funding directly the construction of coal-fired power plant projects with a capacity of below 65 megawatts.

"One of the possibilities is seeking funds from national banks and another option is using PLN's funds," Nyoman said.

While, the construction of coal-fired power plants with a capacity of over 65 megawatts will be still financed under export credit scheme.

The government plans to build power plants outside Java with a total capacity of 3,100 MW as part of the crash program. The construction of these projects will cost about US$2.5 billion. (*)