Sumitomo to resume Tanjung Jati B power plant project

Sumitomo Corp. announced Thursday that it will resume a project to build Tanjung Jati B 1320-MW coal-fired power plant in Central Java that was shelved in 1998 due to the Asian financial crisis, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reports in its Friday morning edition.

Sumitomo originally received the order for the Indonesian facility from an independent power producer. The plant was to be located on Java and have an output of 1.32 million kilowatts, and Sumitomo was slated to build the plant and hand it over to the independent firm.

But the order was canceled due to the Asian financial crisis, and now with demand for energy rising in Southeast Asia, Sumitomo has negotiated a new contract with the government of Indonesia that gives it possession of the facility after it is built.

Construction of the Y200 billion plant will begin in August, and it is scheduled to start supplying power in 2006. A wholly owned Sumitomo subsidiary will own it, but lease it out on a 20-year contract to the state-owned electricity firm PLN. (*)