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TEMPO Interaktif, Jakarta:U.S. Secretary of State Collin Powell has refused to make a statement of interest in regard to the Karaha Bodas Company (KBC) case, as the Indonesia government had requested. The reason given was that KBC is still involved in a legal process in the US. In America, an executive cannot intervene a judicial matter, said Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro during a meeting with the Commission of Energy at the House of Representatives on Monday (17/2). Despite the rejection, the minister explained, the U.S. Ministry of Foreign Affairs has suggested the Indonesian government and KBC seek and out-of-court solution and will even provide facilities for both two parties to begin negotiations. Purnomo went on to say due diligence had been conducted on the geothermal electrical project and this showed that it was feasible to develop the KBC project into a power plant with a capacity of 30 megawatt, 120 megawatt, or 200 megawatt. However, KBC was yet to make any decision over the due diligence result. The due diligence was just completed last week, said Purnomo. The Karaha Bodas Project is a joint venture power plant project between Pertamina the state-owned oil and gas company, and Karaha Bodas Co., a power company owned mainly by U.S. investors. The project has been halted since 1997 in the wake of the financial crisis in Indonesia. As a result, KBC took the Indonesian government -- represented by Pertamina -- to court. So far, KBCs dispute with Pertamina has been processed in several courts, including those in Houston, New York and Delaware in the USA, as well as in Canada, Hong Kong, and Singapore. (Multazam --- Tempo News Room)
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