PLN Gets $378m in Syndicated Loans

JAKARTA
State electricity firm PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara said on Friday that it has secured syndicated loans worth about Rp 4.3 trillion ($378.4 million) to finance the building of power plants across the country in a bid to meet the growing domestic demand for electricity.

As part of its “fast-track” power generation program, PLN has signed three loan agreements with state and local government-owned banks, including the country’s fourth largest lender, PT Bank Negara Indonesia Tbk, PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia Tbk and local development banks, or BPDs.

“The success of the negotiation process and the approval of a loan facility to PLN from syndicated banks show strong support from the national banks and the government [of the program],” said Fahmi Mochtar, president director of PLN. The fast-track program aims add 10,000 megawatts of coal-fired power generation by 2010.

The loans, which will finance 85 percent of the projects, will mature in 10 years with a three-year grace period and a floating rate based on the Jakarta interbank rate, or Jibor.

“Until now the [electricity] demand in the market is much higher than the current capacity of PLN to supply consumers,” said Gatot M. Suwondo, president director of PT Bank Negara Indonesia.

The first agreement that PLN signed was a syndicated loan of Rp 1.1 trillion with BNI and BRI to finance a coal-fired power plant project in Tanjung Awar-Awar, East Java Province, consisting of two power plants with a 350 MW capacity each.

The second agreement was with BRI and BPDs from districts in Jakarta, Papua, South Kalimantan and South Sumatra provinces for another Rp 1.1 trillion-worth of loans to help finance six power plants in Bangka Belitung Islands, South Kalimantan Province, and Papua Island.

The remaining Rp 2.1 trillion will be used to construct eight power plants with the capacity to generate a total of 310 MW. The plants will be constructed in the Sulawesi, Kalimantan, Papua and Sumatra Islands.

Bloomberg reported on Friday that PLN may cut coal buying costs by 38 percent to Rp 500,000 a ton, from around Rp 700,000 to Rp 800,000 a ton last year, due to softening energy prices.

Last week, Jacobus Purwono, director general of electricity at the Ministry of Energy, said PLN would pay Rp 750,000 for a ton of coal. However, Jacobus said that the earlier estimated coal price was made when the oil assumption was at $80 per barrel, while the ministry is now proposing the oil assumption to be between $40 to $60.

PLN estimates that it would consume 34 million of coal this year, about 13 percent more than last year, Nasri Sebayang, PLN’s head of primary fuels said, as quoted by Bloomberg. PLN hasn’t priced all the coal it will use, he said, without elaborating further.