Final tenders for three power plants project approved<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The government, after tough negotiations for
\nhalf a year, has finally reached agreement with three consortia
\non the pricing of three major power projects planned to be
\nestablished in Java at a total cost of US$1.67 billion.<\/p>\n
\"The new bidding prices reflect a 22-percent decline from
\n$2.14 billion offered by the consortia in their first proposal to
\nthe state-owned electricity company PLN on Feb. 15,\" Coordinating
\nMinister for Economy and Finance Saleh Afiff briefed some 50
\nreporters at his office here yesterday.<\/p>\n
Minister of Mines and Energy Ida Bagus Sudjana was present at
\nyesterday's briefing, which was also attended by Secretary
\nGeneral of the Ministry of Mines and Energy Umar Said, Director
\nGeneral for Electricity and New Energy Artono Arismunandar, PLN's
\npresident, Zuhal, and PLN's director for financial affairs,
\nRuswito.<\/p>\n
Saleh said that in its final offer on June 30, a consortium of
\nAsea Brown Boveri (ABB) of Switzerland and Marubeni Corp. of
\nJapan agreed to reduce its bidding price to $733.3 million for
\nconstruction of the 982-megawatt (MW) Muara Tawar combined-cycle
\npower project in West Java, as compared to $912.1 million it
\noffered on April 26.<\/p>\n
On the same date, the consortium of Japanese Sumitomo and
\nAmerican General Electric proposed a cost of $372 million for the
\nestablishment of a 505-MW combined-cycle power generation plant
\nin Tambak Lorok of Semarang, Central Java, as compared to the
\nprevious offer of $394 million.<\/p>\n
\"A group of Japan's Mitsubishi and German Siemens, meanwhile,
\noffered a cost of $571.1 million for construction of a combined-
\ncycle power generation plant with a capacity of 855 MW in Grati,
\nEast Java,\" he said. Previously, the Japanese-German consortium
\nproposed a $617.4-million cost for the Grati project, he added.<\/p>\n
Repeat-order<\/p>\n
The three projects, which will be set up under a repeat-order
\nbasis, were in limbo for half a year since it was offered to the
\nconsortia last November. Their offered prices in fact sparked
\nlong debates among business leaders and members of the House of
\nRepresentatives (DPR), most of whom came in conclusion that the
\nprices proposed by the consortia were too excessive.<\/p>\n
Saleh himself asked PLN some months ago to review the prices
\noffered by the consortia because they were \"still too high\", as
\ncompared to those in neighbor countries.<\/p>\n
President Soeharto even instructed PLN in February to open a
\nbidding for the three projects if the consortia were not ready to
\nlower their prices.<\/p>\n
On Feb. 26, the ABB-Marubeni consortium offered its price of
\n$744 million for the Muara Tawar project, down from its first
\noffer of $912.1 million on Feb. 15, the Sumitomo-General Electric
\ngroup offered $395 million for the Tambak Lorok plant, down from
\n$473.7 million and Mitsubishi-Siemens consortium offered $630
\nmillion for Grati project from $761.2 million.<\/p>\n
Capacity<\/p>\n
Saleh said that during negotiations between the government and
\nthe ABB-Marubeni executives, the consortium was even committed to
\nincreasing the capacity of the planned Muara Tawar plant to
\n1,094.5 MW from the original plan of 982 MW.<\/p>\n
\"The Muara Tawar project will be even equipped with a new main
\nelectricity machine, which was not included in the previous
\noffer,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Zuhal, meanwhile, assured that the ABB-Marubeni consortium has
\nagreed to give three years in guarantee for the operation of the
\nmachine. An informed source close to the consortium told The
\nJakarta Post that the machine, called the 13E2 gas turbine
\nmachine, will be assembled in Germany.<\/p>\n
Saleh argued: \"If we calculate the total investment offered by
\nthe three consortia with the inclusion of the additional capacity
\noffered by the ABB-Marubeni consortium, the planned deals are 25
\npercent lower than the first offer of $540.6 million.\"<\/p>\n
Zuhal said the newly-approved prices are relatively lower than
\nthose offered for the construction of similar power plants in
\nMalaysia and Thailand.<\/p>\n
Both Saleh and Zuhal said that differences of prices in
\nforeign countries, among others, laid on their exclusion of local
\ncomponents, risk factors, terms of payment and cooling system
\nrequirements.<\/p>\n
With the approval of the government, Zuhal said, PLN is now
\npreparing to sign the three contracts. \"We expect that we can
\nsign the contracts in August,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He added that the construction of the open-cycle power plants
\nin Muara Tawar, Tambak Lorok and Grati will be completed within
\n17 months from the date of signing, while the construction of
\ntheir combined-cycle facilities will take 14 months after the
\ncompletion of the open-cycle plants. (fhp)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/final-tenders-for-three-power-plants-project-approved-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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