A consortium of Indonesia's Medco Energi, Itochu of Japan and US contractor Ormat is finalizing details with state-owned companies Pertamina and PLN for the $800 million Sarulla geothermal project in North Sumatra, Upstream reported on Friday (31/8/07). The proposed 340-MW geothermal project will be built over the next five years in three phases of 110 or 120 MW each.

Bank Arta Niaga Kencana will be merged into the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) once a planned takeover is completed, the banks said Friday (31/8/07), according to Agence France-Presse. CBA has already purchased ANK stocks held by private shareholders, amounting to 57% of the bank. After the merger, CBA, Australia's largest retail bank, will have 50 branches operating on Java and Bali islands. The banks said no lay-offs would occur after the merger.

Cellular phone operator PT Excelcomindo Pratama expects to maintain its annual revenue growth rate at more than 20% through to 2010, driven by a consistent increase in subscribers, despite an increasingly competitive market, its president director said. In fiscal year 2007, that growth is set to be even higher at 25% to 30%, Hasnul Suhaimi told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview.

China's ZTE Corp, a provider of telecommunications equipment, said in a statement that it has signed an agreement to help expand PT Telkom's CDMA2000 network capacity, XFN-Asia reported. Under the contract, the network expansion will cover the four main cities in the eastern part of Sulawesi. Financial details of the agreement were not provided. State-owned Telkom operates the largest CDMA network in Indonesia, serving 5 million users. It has a market share of 50%.

The number of foreign tourists who visited Indonesia in the first half of the year was up 12.2% compared to the same period last year, a Tourism Department official said. Some 2,143,000 foreign tourists visited the country from January to June, compared to 1,909,600 in the same time last year, the department’s marketing director, Thamrin B Bachri, was quoted as saying by Antara.

Lippo Group is set to invest $650 million in its multimedia business PT First Media over a period of four years to develop its cable network, a First Media executive said on Thursday (30/8/07), according to Reuters. More than half of the total investment, or $350 million, will be invested in expanding First Media's cable network while the rest will be used for marketing and research.

Altimo, a subsidiary of Russia's Alfa Group, remains keen on its investment plans for Indonesia, a company official said. "We will never give up on our plan, including the possibility of buying a mobile telecommunications operator here," Altimo local chief representative Suharto told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday (28/8/07).

The House of Representatives on Tuesday (28/8/07) approved the midyear revisions to the 2007 budget, which see a downsizing in anticipated government revenue and spending, a wider deficit, additional funds for bureaucracy reform and a new cooking oil subsidy, reported The Jakarta Post.

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia's annual inflation rose nearly half a percentage point in August to 6.51 percent from a month earlier, driven by higher prices for education, food and housing, official data showed Monday. The consumer price index (CPI) for Southeast Asia's largest economy last month rose 0.75 percent from July, Central Bureau of Statistics chairman Rusman Heriawan was quoted by AFP as saying. Inflation in the eight months to August stood at 3.58 percent.

Semarang, C Java (ANTARA News) - The government`s policy of imposing progressive export taxes on crude palm oil (CPO) in an effort to keep cooking oil prices under control is not effective because CPO prices in the world market are high due to external factors, an economic observer said here on Monday. Prof. Fx.

Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara (ANTARA News) - Jatropha curcas linn trees raised in East Nusatenggara have a big potential causing an Israeli investor Merhavv Group to decide to invest US$700 million in the province, an Indonesian entrepreneur said. "East Nusatenggara is suitable for the raising of jatropha curcas linn so that Merhavv Group is ready to make a big-scale investment in biofuel producing plantations," Indonesian private firm PT Mahattan director Sudiro Andiwiguna said here Sunday.

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The North Sulawesi administration and South Korean firm IR WindPower Co. Ltd signed a US$9 million agreement to develop wind energy into electric energy in Sangihe and Talaud islands, an official has said. The signing of the agreement took place on the sidelines of the North Sulawesi Expo held at the Semanggi Expo hall here from September 1 to 5, North Sulawesi Regional Cooperation and Investment Coordinating Body head Vreke Najoan said here Sunday.