Govt to soon open bid for Pemalang power plant

Benget Besalicto Tnb., THE JAKARTA POST, JAKARTA | Tue, 03/17/2009 10:52 AM  

The government is now holding final preparations for the bidding  of a delayed 2,000-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant in Pemalang, Central Java, as part of its plan to auction off eight infrastructure projects this year, a senior official said Monday.

Bastari Panji Indra, director of public and private cooperation at the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), said the US$2 billion power plant project was one of eight projects with a total investment of about $4.4 billion that would be offered by the government this year under the public private partnership  (PPP) scheme. 

“We’ve registered 30 local and foreign companies to take part in the bidding process. We hope to conduct the bid in May or June,” he told The Jakarta Post. Previously, the government planned the bidding process in February. 

He added that based on government regulations, the bid would be held by state-owned electricity company PT PLN and the relevant regional administration in Central Java. 

He also noted the government would seek a 10 percent stake through the Infrastructure Fund, which was recently established by the government with an initial plan of capital amounting to Rp 3 trillion — a third of which would be allocated from the state budget, one-third from the Asian Development Bank, and the rest from the World Bank. 

Bambang Praptono, PLN’s director of strategy and planning, said recently the Pemalang power plant project was part of the government’s second 10,000 MW electricity program and would be constructed under the independent power producer (IPP) scheme. 

The second phase of the 10,000 MW project is expected to start in 2012, with power generation starting in 2014. 

The first phase of the program was launched in 2006 to meet rising demand for electricity nationwide, especially in the Java-Bali system. 

Bambang Susantono, deputy in charge of infrastructure at the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy, told the Post the eight infrastructure projects were awaiting approval from the finance minister. 

“All such projects are subject to the finance minister’s approval. The ministry will also consider its investment participation and project guarantee as required by government regulation’s on infrastructure projects,” he said. 

The eight projects are the Pemalang power plant (worth $2 billion); the 15.8-kilometer Medan Binjai toll road ($118.81 million); the 60-kilometer Medan-Kualanamu-Tebing Tinggi toll road ($477.37 million); the 58.5-kilometer Cileunyi-Sumedang-Dawuan toll road ($394.5 million); the Tanah Ampo Cruise Ship Port in Karangasem, Bali ($23.5 million); the 185-kilometer Palaci-Bangkuang toll road in East Kalimantan ($821 million); the 22-kilometer Manggarai Cengkareng airport toll road ($740 million); and the Bandung Clean Water Project ($54.4 million). 

Bambang confirmed that of the eight projects, the Pemalang project was almost ready for bidding. 

“It has passed the market sounding process. Now we’re waiting for the finance minister’s approval. I’m not sure about the other projects, they have yet to undergo market sounding.”

He added th eight projects were part of the total 88 infrastructure projects with a total investment of $35 billion due to be offered by the government to investors under the PPP scheme in the next few years.