Bukit Asam to pipe coal

JAKARTA (JP): State-owned PT Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam plans to pipe coal from its Tanjung Enim mine in South Sumatra to the Suralaya coal-fired power plant in West Java from next year.

Antara quoted local officials in Palembang, South Sumatra, as saying that construction of the pipeline would require at least a US$400 million investment. And that an environmental impact assessment was underway.

The pipeline, 360-kilometers long, 10-millimeters thick and 66-centimeters in diameter, would run across the Sunda Straits between southern Sumatra and West Java. Two boosters would push the coal, pre-dissolved in water before being blown into the pipeline.

It costs about $10 a ton to transport the coal by train and barges. (pwn)