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)