Bukaka and two Malaysian firms start ambitious power project
Bukaka and two Malaysian firms start ambitious power project
JAKARTA (JP): Bukaka Teknik Utama, an Indonesian engineering
company, along with two Malaysian companies will embark on an
ambitious plan to set up a coal-fired power station in Bukit
Asam, South Sumatra.
This power station is expected to meet the high demands for
power in Sumatra and Java, and to export power into the Malaysian
peninsula.
Yesterday, Bukaka president Fadel Muhammad said here that his
company and the two Malaysian firms, Sikap Project Management
Systems and Worldwide Holdings Berhad, have recently established
a consortium to carry out the project.
"Bukaka holds a 30 percent stake in the consortium, while the
two Malaysian firms the rest," Fadel told The Jakarta Post during
the break of the meeting of the ASEAN Business Forum.
He said that the consortium will invest approximately US$350
million for the first phase of the power project, which will be
located in the mouth of the mining site of the state-owned coal
mining company PT Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam (PTBA) in
Banjarsari, Bukit Asam.
The planned mine generation facilities will be created on a
build-own-and-operate (BOO) basis, Fadel said. He added that the
first phase of the project, which will cover the construction of
two power units, is under a feasibility study.
Approval
"The government has in principle approved the plan and we are
still waiting for a formal license from the Investment
Coordinating Board (BKPM)," he said.
The power plant, to be constructed during the first phase of
the project, will have a two generating units with a capacity of
150 megawatts (MW) each.
The two units, which are scheduled for commercial production
in January and May 1998 respectively, will meet the local demand.
Another two units, each with a generating capacity of 500 MW,
will be constructed afterwards to meet the power demand in Java.
"By the time the second phase is implemented, elements of the
transmission system to the south of Sumatra and the link to Java
could be in place," Fadel said, adding that the consortium could
undertake the construction of these facilities.
He said that the subsequent phases of the ambitious power
project will also include the construction of other power units
of 500 MW capacity in North Sumatra and in Jambi.
"Those power plants will be connected to the 500-kilovolt
trans-Sumatra transmission system which is expected to be in
place by then," he said. "This will then allow the link to the
Malaysian peninsula and the export of power to Malaysia and
Thailand."
The operation and maintenance of power plants to be built by
the consortium will be undertaken by a separate entity, he said.
(hen)