Bakrie to build $1.5b power plant

Bakrie to build $1.5b power plant

JAKARTA (JP): The Bakrie consortium has won a government
contract to build the US$1.5-billion Tanjung Jati A coal-fired
power plant in Central Java, Private Electricity Director of the
Ministry of Mines and Energy Moeljadi Oetji confirmed on
Wednesday.

Moeljadi said the director general of electricity and energy
development has asked state-owned electricity company PT
Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) to start further negotiations
with the Bakrie consortium for the final build-operate-and-
transfer contract.

"The price offered by the Bakrie consortium is the best price
and most profitable for the Government," he was quoted on
Wednesday by Bisnis Indonesia as saying.

The Bakrie consortium is 20 percent owned by the Bakrie Power
Corporation, 20 percent by PT Maharani Paramitra, a company
controlled by businesswoman Siti Hediati Prabowo, and the
remaining 60 percent is equally owned by Tomen Corp. of Japan and
Energy Power Asia Ltd. of Hong Kong.

The Bakrie consortium defeated three other bidders: Sumitomo
of Japan; Catur Reksa Daya, a joint venture between the Astra
Group and Marubeni of Japan; and ABB Energy Venture, a joint
venture between Asea Brown Bovery of Switzerland and Cipta Cakra
Murdaya.

Moeljadi said that the evaluation was based on financing,
legal, commercial and technical aspects.

He added that the project will have two units, each with an
installed capacity of 615 megawatts.

Bakrie, according to Gatra magazine, asked for a price of
$6.088 per kilowatt hour (kWh), which was the second lowest price
after ABB's $5.79. Catur Reksa Daya demanded $6.20 and Sumitomo
$6.29.

Siti Murdaya Poo of the ABB consortium said that her
consortium was prepared to accept the government's decision
regarding the winner.(04)