State firms to build geothermal power plant
State firms to build geothermal power plant
JAKARTA (JP): The state-owned general mining firm PT Aneka
Tambang and the state-owned tin company PT Tambang Timah are to
set up a joint venture to build and operate a geothermal power
station.
"The Ministry of Mines and Energy has agreed the two
companies' plan and they have already signed a memorandum of
understanding on the geothermal project," the ministry's
secretary-general, Umar Said, said last night after the closing
ceremony of the ministry's three-day working conference.
He said the two companies will have an equal stake in the
planned joint venture, which will be called PT Geothermal
Indonesia.
Details were not released on the proposed capacity of the
power project or the required investment. "Aneka Tambang and
Tambang Timah have still to discuss the details of the project,"
Umar noted.
According to official data, Indonesia's potential geothermal
energy reserves will be able to support the operation of power
plants with a total capacity of 19,658 megawatts (MW). The
geothermal power plants already in existence have a combined
capacity of only about 1,000 MW.
Umar said the joint venture is the first to be established
under a so-called "cross fertilization" scheme, which calls for
cooperation between state-owned enterprises or between the
enterprises and private companies.
"In the near future, we'll see more of such business
cooperation established to improve efficiency," he said.
Minister of Mines and Energy I.B. Sudjana said at the working
conference's opening ceremony that: "to improve the competitive
edges of state firms, we need to streamline their bureaucracy and
modernize their management."
Sudjana believed going public and cross fertilization were the
best ways to modernize state-owned companies.
He said that two subsidiaries of the state-owned electricity
company PLN, PT Pembangkit Jawa Bali I and Pembangkit Jawa Bali
II, will float their shares internationally early next year.
At last night's closing ceremony, the minister instructed the
Directorate General of Electricity and Energy Development to
formulate a regulation aimed at attracting private investors to
take part in the establishment of electricity transmission
networks.
"The directorate general should prepare a regulation which
will help improve the business climate in the electricity
sector," Sudjana said. "The preparation of such a regulation
should be completed before next year's working conference."
He said all the staff of the ministry and state firms under
its supervision must be more responsive in serving the
public.(13)