Kalimantan Gold Corporation Limited said Monday (18/12/06) that it has finalized its option deed with Australian copper and gold mining company, Oxiana Ltd. Previously announced as a Heads of Agreement in October, the option deed grants Oxiana an option to earn up to a total interest of 66.67% in the KSK contract of work.

Sinar Mas Group, through its subsidiary PT Nabati Energi Mas, plans to construct a bio-diesel plant next year with capacity of 400,000 tons per annum, Investor Daily reported, citing a company official. PT Nabati Energi's chief commissioner Danny Jozal, who is also chairman of Sinar Mas Group's renewable energy division, said the plant will be built in Dumai, Riau province, with a total investment of $35 million. The plant will use crude palm oil as its raw material.

State power utility PT PLN has called for bids to build 25 coal-fired steam power plants as part of a program aimed at fast tracking additional power supply, XFN-ASIA reported. Under the plan PLN is seeking to bring on-stream new electricity capacity of 10,000 MW. PLN said it has invited bids for four plants with net output of 100-150 MW for each generator; four plants with two 50 MW generators for each plant; and 17 smaller plants with net output ranging from 14 MW to 50 MW for each plant.

Five Indonesian state-owned and regional banks have been tasked to lend $2.8 billion next year to help develop bio-fuel projects and revitalize the country's plantation sector, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

The government will hold a tender in March in a bid to expand its fiber-optic cable network in a bid to strengthen its telecommunications sector, a communications department official said on Tuesday, according to Reuters. Basuki Iskandar, Director General of Telecommunicatons, said Indonesia has a fiber-optic network of around 70,000-km, far smaller than regional neighbour Malaysia, of far smaller size and population. "We will launch the open tender in March next year," Iskandar told reporters.

The World Bank has approved a loan package of $600 million to support Indonesian reforms, which it said were already bearing fruit. The assistance comprises a $530 million loan and a concessional credit of $70 million, it said Wednesday in a statement, Agence France-Presse reported. "Indonesia has shown strong commitment to restoring sound economic fundamentals," said Andrew Steer, the bank's country director for Indonesia.

South Korean electronics producer LG Electronics Corporation is planning to make Indonesia a base for production of four types of domestic appliances for the Asian and Australian markets, Antara reported. "We are planning to make Indonesia a base for the production of LCD televisions, plasma televisions, refrigerators and audio-video products for the Asian and Australian markets," PT LG Electronics Indonesia (LGEIN) General Manager Budi Setiawan said Tuesday (19/12/06).

One of Russia's largest privately owned holding companies, the Alfa Group, announced Wednesday (20/12/06) it plans spend up to $2 billion in Indonesia's mobile telecommunications industry, The Jakarta Post reported. The company will make the investments through a subsidiary, Altimo, whose vice president, Kirill Babaev, told reporters the company wanted to be a player in the cellular market, one of the most prospective in the sector in the world. .

A Chinese official has said his government intends to increase investment in Indonesia, particularly in the power and resources sectors, as a number of other investment deals were taking shape. The reports provided an optimistic note to the end of a year in which investment realizations have been sharply down on 2005 levels, and well off pre-crisis levels.

A project to build 21,500 permanent houses and 24,500 temporary shelters for victims of the Java earthquake and tsunami was launched Wednesday, the World Bank said. Some 6,000 people were killed and 300,000 homes destroyed or seriously damaged in the May 27 quake which hit Yogyakarta and its surrounding area. More than 600 were killed in the July tsunami which hit the southern coast of Java, Agence France-Presse reported.