Govt to award power projects to 7 private firms this year
JAKARTA (JP): The government plans to award contracts for the establishment of seven power projects with a total capacity of 2,615 megawatts (MW) to private companies by the end of this year.
Ermansjah Jamin, an expert assistant to the Minister of Mines and Energy for electricity affairs, told reporters here yesterday the projects include two coal-fired power units in Paiton, East Java; three gas-fueled stations in Serpong, West Java, Jati, East Java, and Samarinda, East Kalimantan; two coal-fired power plants in Tarahan, Lampung, and Amurang, North Sulawesi, as well as one coal-fired plant in Sengkang, South Sulawesi.
"Within this month, we will likely sign a contract with a consortium of Germany's Siemens AG, British Power Gen and the Bimantara Group for construction of two power units with a combined capacity of 1,200 megawatts (MW) in Paiton," he said.
Jamin estimated that the Paiton project, which is expected to start operating by 1999, will cost US$2.1 billion.
The Paiton project will be 50 percent owned by Siemens, 35 percent by Power Gen and 15 percent by Bimantara Group, which is controlled by a son of President Soeharto.
Jamin said the construction of the 400-MW power plant in Serpong will be tackled by a consortium of British Gas Plc. and PT Bakrie Power Corp. with an investment of $360 million.
The Serpong project will start operating in 1997.
He said Enron Devp. Corp. of the United States will construct the Grati project with a capacity of 500 MW at $400 million. The project is expected to start operating in 1997.
Enron Devp. will also construct the gas-fueled plant in Samarinda with a capacity of 130 MW at $150 million, he said, adding that the project will be operational in 1998.
Cohasset Resources Inc. will likely set up a 200-MW coal-fired power station in Tarahan, Lampung, with a total investment of $250 million. The planned station will be operational in 1989, he added.
Jamin said that U.S. Energy Electric will likely be awarded a contract for the construction of a 50-MW coal-fired power plant in Amurang, North Sulawesi, which will cost about $50 million and operate in 1997.
PT Triharsa Sarana JP will set up a 135-MW gas-fueled power plant in Sengkang, South Sulawesi at a cost of $100 million. It will operate in 1997, he added.
Approvals
The government earlier this year awarded a contract to PT Paiton Energy Company to construct a $2.6 billion power plant with a generation capacity of 1,230 MW in Paiton. It also approved the Hong Kong-based Consolidated Electric Power Asia (CEPA) Ltd. to construct a $2 billion private power plant in Tanjung Jati, Jepara of Central Java, with a capacity of 1,320 MW.
CEPA cooperates with PT Pembangunan Perumahan, a state company overseen by the Ministry of Public Works, to construct the plant.
In addition, the government has also approved three other coal-fired power plants, including a 982-MW combined-cycle power plant at Muara Tawar in West Java, which will be constructed by a consortium of Asea Brown Bovery (ABB) of Switzerland and Japan's Marubeni. The other two are a 521-MW one-cycle power plant at Tambak Lorok in Central Java, to be built by Japan's Sumitomo and General Electric of the United States, and a 868-MW combined- cycle power station in Grati, East Java, to be set up by Japan's Mitsubishi and Germany's Siemens. (fhp)