RI, Malaysia to jointly build power plant in Sumatra

Indonesia and Malaysia have agreed to cooperate in the construction of a coal-fired power plant in Sumatra to provide additional power supply for the two countries, Antara reported on Monday.

"The cooperation agreement was signed by the two countries` last year," Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Jero Wacik said after opening an ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting in Jakarta on Monday.

The power plant would have a capacity of 2,000 megawatt. About 1,000 MW of the electricity will be used for the domestic market and the other 1,000 MW for Malaysia.

He said under the cooperation agreement Indonesia would provide the land and coal supply, while Malaysia would be responsible for the plant construction.

The power plant, which is scheduled for operation in 2018, will be built with investment of up to US$2.5 billion.

The minister said that not only Malaysia, Singapore also had expressed its interest to take part in the plant construction, but its involvement could not as yet be realized because their legislative body has not yet approved it.

"If Singapore also wishes to cooperate the capacity could be increased but the neighbor must also share the investment," he said. (*)