JAKARTA (Reuters) -Emirates Global Aluminium is not in the nuclear business, a spokesman said on Thursday, describing as “inaccurate” an Indonesian government statement that the company plans to build a nuclear power plant in the Southeast Asian nation.
Indonesia has been trying to develop its mineral processing industry by attracting investment on the basis of its rich reserves of minerals such as nickel, copper and bauxite.
On Wednesday, its economic affairs ministry said the plant, with capacity of up to 5 gigawatts, was aimed at remedying a shortage of low-carbon power that bedevils an effort to boost capacity at an aluminium smelter in North Sumatra.
“EGA is not in the nuclear power business so, with all respect, the account of this aspect … is inaccurate,” the company’s spokesperson said in an email on Thursday, while reiterating its interest in other sectors in Indonesia.
“EGA is interested in Indonesia, as we have been saying publicly for the last four years.”
The economic affairs ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the company’s statement.
Indonesia has no nuclear power capacity at present.
The ministry statement followed a meeting in Dubai between Indonesia’s senior economic minister Airlangga Hartarto and EGA CEO Abdulnasser Ibrahim Saif Bin Kalban to discuss development of the aluminium industry.
Airlangga, in Dubai to attend the World Government Summit, also met Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, the chief executive of UAE state-owned renewable energy firm Masdar.
The two discussed their projects in Indonesia, including a 145-megawatt floating solar power plant on a reservoir in the province of West Java and development of a gas pipeline from Aceh to East Java.
EGA has agreed to help expand production capacity by up to 400,000 tons a year at the North Sumatra smelter owned by state-owned Indonesia Asahan Aluminium.
(Reporting by Stefanno Sulaiman; Editing by John Mair and Clarence Fernandez)
