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)