Sofyan Basir, PLN CEO:
Chinese investors today are different

ONE year after he became CEO of the state-owned electricity company PLN, Sofyan Basir is getting all kinds of criticism and condemnation. This is because the new criteria to tender out the 35,000 megawatt power generator were closed to competition, favoring only investors from China. The announcement that a proposal was required to be submitted in one month's time was unlikely to be met by Japanese or American investors, who needed four to six months to prepare it. The requirement of a 10 percent deposit of the total project value was also seen as a burden to the investor.

But Sofyan is taking it all lightly. "Those are complaints from light-weight investors," he told Tempo reporter Ayu Prima Sandi, following a meeting at the office of the Vice President last week. He said the classy Chinese investors had signed an agreement to carry out a 17,000 MW power generation project, out of the 35,000 MW facilities the government is rushing to build. The Chinese investment is likely to dominate the private-sector electricity supply.