Indonesia's state power company to bid huge distribution network

Indonesia plans to build one of its most massive electricity distribution networks with foreign participation.

PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara, Indonesia's state-owned power distribution monopoly, is soliciting bids this month to build a high-voltage electricity network between the islands of Sumatra and Java worth US$20 billion.

Construction of the 700 kilometer-long network will ease the transmission of some 3,000 megawatts of electricity between Sumatra, Java and Bali. Work on the project is to begin in 2013 and is expected to be completed by 2017.

The project is being funded by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) with matching funds from PLN.

The project is another in a surge of electricity infrastructure projects in Indonesia, which has one of the lowest electrification rates in Asia.