Texmaco, PLN eye Indian power project

JAKARTA (JP): State-owned electricity company PLN and the Texmaco Group have formed a new strategic alliance in a bid to win a tender for a power plant project worth US$700 million in Tamilnadu, southern India.

The project, the construction of a 1,500 MW power plant and transmission lines has been tendered globally.

"The alliance will strengthen Texmaco's position to win the bidding," said PLN's president director Djiteng Marsudi after the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU).

"This is also an opportunity for PLN to get into the global power business," Ditjeng added.

Under the MOU, PLN would control, operate and maintain the power plant, and Texmaco subsidiary PT Wisma Karya Prasetya would handle management, equipment, supply and liaison.

Texmaco Group chairman Marimutu Sinivasan said Wisma Karya wished to take part in bidding but lacked expertise in the power sector.

Marimutu said Wisma Karya was confident of winning the bid with the partnership of PLN.

Djiteng said PLN might have a stake in the power project and the company was ready to send its employees to work overseas.

"We are likely to send our workers abroad. In this era of globalization, we have to be able to seize business opportunities abroad," said Djiteng.

Texmaco, considered to be widely diversified, is active in the machineries and textile industries.

Texmaco's subsidiaries include the publicly-listed PT Texmaco Perkasa Engineering, which produces textile machinery. machine tools, trucks, and other capital goods; the publicly-listed PT Polysindo Eka Perkasa Indonesia, which is Indonesia's largest integrated producer of textiles; and the publicly-listed PT Texmaco Jaya, which is also a textile producer.

Texmaco's prowess in the manufacture of sophisticated machinery has been acknowledged by various parties.

State Minister of Research and Technology B.J. Habibie recently said Texmaco was able to manufacture car and aircraft components. (jsk)