Cooperation in Industry, Minerals and Energy
( COIME )
The Committee on Industry, Minerals and
Energy (COIME) held its 24th and 25th Meetings
in Manila, from 27 - 29 August 1984 and 12 - 14
December 1984 respectively. The following is the
progress of activities in the industry, minerals and
energy sector:
ASEAN Industrial Projects (AIPs)
ASEAN Urea Project (Indonesia)
Total production of urea of the project
company, P.T. ASEAN Aceh Fertilizer, reached
535,000 MT by the end of December 1984 which
is about 93% of the designed capacity. As of
October 1984, deliveries to member Countries, as
summarized below, amounted to 480,637 metric
tons (MT).
Country of Deliveries(MT) %
Destination
Indonesia 333,020 69.3
Malaysia 78,971 16.4
Philippines 44,618 9.3
Singapore 4,983 1.0
Thailand 14,189 3.0
Others 4,983 1.0
Total 480,637 100
ASEAN Urea Project ( Malaysia)
The overall cumulative progress of the project
was estimated as 88% complete as of 31 March
1985. This is about 2.5% short of the planned
schedule. Engineering and Procurement were both
99% complete while construction progress was
estimated at 70% complete. On procurement,
ASEAN content was estimated at 19.75%.
The Project company, the ASEAN Bintulu
Fertilizer Sdn, Bhd now employs 180 people. A
total of 23 operations staff completed a ten-week
training course in Europe in September 1984.
ASEAN Copper Fabrication Project (Philippines)
The dateline for the submission of commercial
proposals for the Project was reset to allow more
time for bidders to prepare firm financial offers.
The Technical Bids submitted are still being
considered by the Board of Directors of the project
company, ASEAN Copper Products, Inc.
ASEAN Vaccine Project (Singapore)
The implementation of the project, whose
Supplementary Agreement was approved in May
1 984, was delayed due to technical reasons.
ASEAN Rock Salt-Soda Ash Project (Thailand)
In view of the changing situation resulting from
the recent global economic slowdown the Thai
shareholder entity of the project company, the
ASEAN Soda Ash Company, Ltd commissioned a
review of the viability of the project. The Project
Review Report was considered by the Board of
Directors of the Soda Ash Company in December
1984 and decided that the most appropriate
alternative for the Project would be to produce
300,000 tons/year instead of the 400,000 tons as
originally planned.
ASEAN Industrial Joint Ventures (AIJV)
The ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) at its
17th meeting held in Kuala Lumpur from 7 - 9
February 1985 approved the inclusion of the
following 3 products to the list of the approved
AIJV:
Security Paper - with Malaysia and Brunei
Darussalam as participating countries;
Potash Feldspar- with Thailand and Indonesia
Quartz as participatingCountries; and
Slaughtered - with Thailand and the
Meat Philippines as participating countries.
The 17th AEM adopted the guidelines for the
proposed Agreement on the Preferential Short-
listing of ASEAN Contractors. The proposed
Agreement is to provide for the automatic
inclusion in the list of bidders of at least one
ASEAN contractor that meets the prequalification
criteria for projects funded by international institutions
which require, as a condition, international
competitive bidding.
ASEAN Industrial Complementation (AIC)
A final proposal from the Mitsubishi Motors
Corporation (MMC) on !he brand-to-brand complementation
scheme was still being awaited. The
COIME had expressed its desire to expedite implementation
of the scheme and that the manufacture
of major components, instead of concentrating on
minor components, should be considered when the
final proposal is submitted.
Cooperation in Minerals
The Documentation Study for Establishing an
ASEAN Training Centre on Mine Safety and
Health has been completed in cooperation with
Australia.
Energy Cooperation
ASEAN activities on energy cooperation
come directly under the ASEAN Ministers on
Energy Cooperation who held their Fifth Meeting
in Bangkok from 25 - 26 April 1985. Among the
highlights of the meeting were discussions on the
global energy situation, particularly pertaining to
the demand and supply for oil. The meeting agreed
that ASEAN member countries should step up
their efforts to assure energy security both during
periods of oversupply as well as possible scarcity of
oil in the future.
The Ministers also agreed to study the draft
ASEAN Petroleum Security Agreement as well as
the proposed ASEAN Energy Cooperation
Agreement.
Cooperation on Coal
An ADB and UNDP/ESCAP financed study
initiated by the Experts Group on Coal, entitled
"ASEAN Coal Development Project", was
completed and the study's recommendations were
presented to the Energy Ministers. Among those
accepted by the Ministers were the setting up of a
coal information exchange using facilities in
Thailand, and training in coal resource development,
logistics and utilization. The study also
indicated possible joint ventures in exploration
mine development of coal In Kalimantan,
Indonesia.
Cooperation on Power Utilities
Progress was achieved during the period
under review in ten projects under the purview of
the Forum of ASEAN Heads of Power Utilities.
They include those on micro/mini hydro development,
computer applications, interconnection,
research development and engineering, training,
geothermal power development, nuclear power for
electric power generation, rural and urban electrification,
standardization and electric power
information.
Among the activities undertaken during the
year under review were.-
a) a two-week training programme on hydrology for small hydropower;
b) the publication of the ASEAN Electric
Power Statistics 1 981 ;and
c) three workshops relating to the Study on
the Electric Future of ASEAN countries,
held in cooperation with the East-West
Center, Hawaii.
For more information, please refer to project details