Malaysia's Cahya in MOU for aluminium smelter. Meanwhile, Argentina's Impsa beats Alstom for Bakun turbine project.

Malaysia's Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd signed a memorandum of understanding with two China's engineering companies Luneng Group Co. Ltd and Sinohydro Corp, Cahya Mata to consider setting up an aluminium smelter in east Sarawak state. The smelter is expected to be the main customer for power from a $2.4 bn, 2,400-MW Bakun hydroelectric dam that Malaysia is building in Sarawak. Local tycoon Syed Mokhtar Albukhary has plans for a $2 billion, 500,000-tonne-a-year aluminium smelter in Sarawak, due for completion in 2007, through a joint venture with Arab businessman Mohamed Ali Alabbar. (Reuters - 05/09/05)

Meanwhile, from AFX News Limited (05/04/2005), Industrias Metalurgicas Pescarmona SA (Impsa) of Argentina has won a 122 mln usd contract to supply turbines for the huge Bakun hydroelectric dam in Borneo, Asian Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The yet-to-be announced contract for four turbines was signed last month after Impsa and its Malaysian partner, Muhibbah Engineering Bhd, beat Alstom SA of France in bidding for the deal, the report said. Alstom, which won a contract to supply turbines for the first phase of the Bakun project three years ago, was widely considered to be the front-runner in the latest competition. But while the French company submitted a bid that was 10 mln rgt, or about 2.6 mln usd, lower, the Malaysian government opted for the Impsa-led joint-venture because it guaranteed that a higher proportion of the contract would be sourced in Malaysia, the Journal cited industry executives as saying. A senior Impsa official based in Kuala Lumpur confirmed the turbine award, but declined to elaborate, the report said.

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