Indonesia's largest listed energy firm PT Medco Energi Internasional Tbk will start a 180,000 liter per day ethanol plant later this year, using cassava as a feedstock, a senior official said on Wednesday (11/4/07). Bio-ethanol production from the plant in Lampung in southern Sumatra will be exported to Japan and the European Union, said president director Djatnika Puradinata from PT Medco Methanol Bunyu, a unit of Medco Energi. "We will run at full capacity once the plant becomes operational.

State-owned electricity company PLN has called for tenders for a $2 billion power transmission project in the Java Bali interconnection, Asia Pulse reported on Wednesday (11/4/07). The project will be financed from the state budget, export credit and foreign loans, PLN Transmission and Distribution Director Herman Darnel Ibrahim said. The transmission system will include extra high voltage airborne cables, high voltage airborne cables and electrical relay stations, Ibrahim said.

Bank Central Asia (BCA) is planning to extend up to Rp10 trillion ($1.1 billion) worth of loans this year, some Rp4 trillion of which would be allocated to corporations, vice president Jahja Setiaatmadja said. The loans would be provided through the withdrawal of funds in Bank Indonesia short-term promissory notes (SBI), Antara reported on Thursday (12/4/07). The bank's loans in 2006 grew 13.5% to Rp61.4 trillion, with corporate loans growing 19% to Rp23.9 trillion.

Indonesia's third largest mobile phone operator, PT Excelcomindo Pratama, signed on some 1 million new users in the first quarter, a senior company official said on Wednesday (11/4/07). The company, owned by Telekom Malaysia Bhd, is aiming for 4.5 million news users this year to add to its 9.5 million customers at the end of 2006. "Our customers as of the end of the first quarter are 10.5 million.

The 10 member countries of the ASEAN have agreed to set up a special body to raise and manage an infrastructure fund to finance infrastructure projects in the region. The agency is expected to help speed up procurement of funds and mobilize idle funds for infrastructure projects in the ASEAN, head of the Fiscal Policy Board, Anggito Abimanyu said, according to an Antara report on Wednesday (11/4/07).

Foreign direct investment rose to $2.99 billion in the first quarter of 2007 from $2.6 billion in the same period last year, National Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) chairman Muhammad Lutfi said on Tuesday (10/4/07). Foreign direct investment approvals rose to $14.13 billion in the January-March period from $2.36 billion in the same period last year, he said, according to Reuters.

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesian rating agency Pefindo has assigned an "AA-" rating (stable outlook) to Rp2 trillion worth of bonds publicly-listed cellular phone operator PT Excelcomindo Pratama Tbk plans to issue this year. The rating reflected good telecommunication industry, stable market position amid increasing competition and majority shareholders` stronger profile, Pefindo analysts Salyadi Saputra and Hendro Utama said in a report to the Jakarta Stock Exchange here on Monday.

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The Tax Directorate General is to extend the tax base once again. Hasan Rahmany, Director of Tax Intensification and Evaluation, said that this measure was being taken in order to increase the state's revenues. The approaches being discussed are the extensions based on the ownership of apartments, luxury houses and work associations. The government is discussing the Operational and Procedural Standard (SOP) of these three approaches.

Concerned by a rise in the consumption of imported fruit, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has urged Indonesians to purchase locally grown agricultural products. Speaking during a visit to a durian plantation in Sukabumi, West Java, on Sunday, the President also called for integrated efforts to increase the country's food production, in order to meet rising demand.

Several banks in the country have begun to cut their deposit rates, following a decision by the Deposit Insurance Agency last week to further lower the rate for guaranteed deposits to 9 percent. Banks are still weighing options for trimming their lending rates as well, which is seen as necessary to spur demand for growth-stimulating credits. The central bank recently announced it was keeping its key rate at 9 percent for the time being.

The tender process for the exploration and production of coal bed methane (CBM) gas in Indonesia will be delayed until August following a request from interested bidders asking for more time to set up pilot projects in order to determine the project's economic feasibility, an official said.