Ex-Im Bank to help RI upgrade power plant

Ex-Im Bank to help RI upgrade power plant

TOKYO (Kyodo): The Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank of Japan said yesterday it will join a 6.9 billion yen lending program for Indonesia to boost the capacity of a power plant to help meet local electricity demand which has been soaring on recent industrialization.

The bank will put up 60 percent or 4.1 billion yen of the loan financed jointly with Sumitomo Bank, the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan, Fuji Bank, the Bank of Tokyo and the Industrial Bank of Japan, Ex-Im Bank officials said.

Jakarta will use the funds to purchase equipment from Sumitomo Corp. for stepping up the capacity of the Tambak Lorok power plant in Central Java to 500 megawatts, up 67 percent from the current 300 megawatts, they said.

The lending program is also part of trilateral cofinancing arrangements with the U.S. Export-Import Bank and the Austrian Control Bank, the officials noted.

The U.S. bank will offer 50 million in export credit for turbines made by General Electric of the United States, while the Austrian bank will supply 300 million Austrian shillings (3 billion yen) to finance boiler exports, they said.