PLN POSTPONES PLAN TO ISSUE BONDS

Jakarta, Oct 13 (ANTARA) - State power utility PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) has decided to postpone a plan to issue rupiah- and foreign currency-denominated bonds due to the impact of the global financial crisis on the national economy.
"The plan to issue the bonds which was originally slated to take place at the end of 2008 has been temporarily shelved," PLN President Director Fahmi Mochtar said here on Monday.
Fahmi said the bonds were valued at Rp18 trillion consisting of the rupiah-denominated bonds worth Rp3 trillion and the dollar-denominated bonds worth US$1 billion.
PLN had originally planned to use proceeds from the issuance of the bonds to finance its projects including power plants with a combined capacity of 10,000 MW.
The construction of the power plants will cost an estimated Rp80 trillion.
"Proceeds from the issuance of the bonds have originally been planned to finance projects in 2009 and 2010," he said.
Yet, the delay in the issuance of the bonds would not disrupt the company's projects in 2008 and 2009, he said.
"God willing, our projects in 2009 will be safe so we see no urgency in issuing the bonds right now. What we have to try is to seek funds for projects in 2010," he said.
Much of the funds needed for the projects in 2009 would come from loans the company had secured before, he said.
"But if the market condition makes it possible we will issue the bonds in 2009," he said.