Briefs

 Indonesia’s Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry has signed off on contracts for 134 procurement of goods and services packages for the first phase of the 2017 state budget.
The packages are worth a total Rp 284 billion (US$21.3 million, Bt750 million).
Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Ignasius Jonan acknowledged that the contracts signed only made up around 10 per cent of the 2017 target.
However, he was optimistic that the contracts signed could reach up to 30 to 40 per cent by the end of next month.
“The government hopes that by signing these as early as possible, the quality of the goods and services can be of a higher quality than if these contracts are signed in June or July, where there are only six months left in the year and the process may become messy,” he said during his speech at the signing ceremony at Balai Kartini in South Jakarta on Thursday. –The Jakarta Post

Pak Beng hydropower project looks set to move forward

Construction of the Pak Beng hydropower project in Laos is expected to begin at the end of this year after reaching agreement among the lower Mekong countries.
A group of technical officials from the Ministry of Energy and Mines, |Lao National Mekong Committee Secretariat and media organisations recently visited the construction site of the Pak Beng hydropower project in Oudomxay province.
The group was led by Acting Director General of the Department of Energy Policy and Planning under the Ministry of Energy and Mines, Chansaveng Boungnong.
To comply with the Mekong River Commission (MRC), the Lao government already sent documents for the project to the MRC Secretariat in November last year so they can prepare them before they are submitted to Mekong countries such as Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.
This process on prior consultation will take about six months and then lower Mekong countries will send their concerns and issues related to the design of the project to the MRC Secretariat. The secretariat will review the documents and return them to Laos to improve and solve any design issues, Chansaveng told technical officials and media during a visit to the project construction site.
He pointed out that Laos has vast potential in the hydropower sector but also that its outlook for development is sustainable and will avoid environmental impacts on neighbouring countries.
Pak Beng Hydropower Project is located on the upper reaches of the Mekong River near Pakbaeng district in Oudomxay province of northern Laos.
The project type is run-of-river and the dam site is approximately 14 kilometres upstream from Pakbaeng |district. The total capacity is 912 megawatts with average annual generation of 4.775 gigawatt-hours.|—Vientiane Times

Life insurer Zurich announces partnership with Bank of China

Life insurer Zurich Topas Life, a part of Switzerland's Zurich Insurance Group Ltd, announced on Thursday its bancassurance partnership with Chinese commercial lender Bank of China, as it eyes Indonesia’s expatriate community.
“Both Bank of China and Zurich have similar customer segments given our status as international companies,” Zurich president director Peter Huber told a media briefing in Jakarta.
The insurer targets the community's members who have particular insurance needs because of their specific working and living circumstances and time frames.
Huber expressed hope the partnership would help boost the already steep growth of his firm's bancassurance distribution channel.
The new premium recorded from the channel soared by 133 per cent last year and contributed 37 per cent of the insurer's total premiums.
Huber, however, refused to go into detail on the total amount.
Zurich booked Rp 223.3 billion (US$16.7 million, Bt588 million) of premium revenue as of September last year.
It projects to see 125 percent growth of its new bancassurance premium this year.—The Jakarta Post