Taiwan Water Corp (Taiwater, 台灣自來水) is on Thursday to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to build a water purification plant in Indonesia based on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) model, the state-owned company said on Saturday last week.
The new water purification facility in Malang, East Java, is to cost NT$400 million to NT$500 million (US$12.96 million to US$16.2 million), Taiwater said, adding that it would supply a local industrial zone with 35,000 tonnes of water each day.
A delegation from the state-owned company and six private water treatment firms led by Taiwater chairman Kuo Chun-ming (郭俊銘) was yesterday to travel to Indonesia in preparation for the signing of the MOU, but a final decision has not been made on whether a government agency or a local water company would sign the MOU on behalf of Indonesia, Taiwater said.
Although the size of the investment is relatively small, it would give Taiwanese water companies visibility in Indonesia and help expand their reach in the local market, Taiwater spokesperson Wu Ching-wen (武經文) said.
The company in August last year signed an MOU with three Indonesian water companies to improve the water quality in East Java and build pilot water purification facilities.
A Taiwater assessment report published in May last year said that a lack of tap water plaguing the province was due to insufficient water treatment infrastructure and high water prices, and problematic water testing in East Java could not guarantee that the widespread consumption of spring water is safe.
Meanwhile, state-run oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) said that after it in October last year signed an MOU with state-run Indonesian oil and gas company PT Pertamina to build a naphtha cracker, a feasibility assessment report would likely be published in the first half of this year.
CPC is also to open an office in India to collect information about Indian tax policies and the investment environment, CPC spokesman Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) said.
Meanwhile, Taiwan Sugar Corp (台糖) vice president Hung Huo-wen (洪火文) said that his company is also looking to invest in Indonesia, leveraging its sugarcane cultivation and sugar production technologies.
However, progress has been stalled by a lack of proper land on which to build facilities, Hung said.
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