Tender process delays Papua power plant project

The construction of a 14-megawatt steam-generated power plant (PLTU) in the Papua regency of Mimika is still delayed because it has to go through a second bid process, an official said.

A spokesman from the Timika branch of state electricity company PLN, Trimanto, told Antara state news agency Friday that the second tender was now in the pre-qualification phase.

The Timika PLTU project was initially planned for construction in 2008 and was scheduled to begin operations in 2010.

But, when it was put out to tender in 2007, there was only one company which submitted an application so the project canceled; in 2008, a second bid process was offered where two companies took part.

The tender committee in Jakarta decided on PT MBW as the winner, but the Chinese firm withdrew its bid to be the project executor after it had conducted a survey on the construction site of the plant project, which was located near Paumako Port, East Mimika district.

In the pre-qualification phase in Jakarta, seven companies submitted applications and the committee decided that five of them had passed the pre-qualification assessment.

Trimanto said, based on central government instructions, the construction of the Timika PLTU project should have been completed last June.