N. Sumatra to go ahead with hydroelectric power project
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan
North Sumatra Governor T. Rizal Nurdin asserted on Saturday that the provincial administration would go ahead with the hydroelectric power plant (PLTA) project in Lau Renun, Dairi regency, despite the decreasing water supply to the plant.
"We have decided to go ahead with the project that has absorbed a huge amount of money because the province is facing power shortages due to the rapid growth of factories and new settlement areas in the province," the governor said.
The water supply from Lau Renun river to the plant has dropped drastically due to illegal logging in the rain forest in the regency.
The PLTA Lau Renun project, which is still in progress, is being built with a 25.6 billion yen soft loan from Japan Bank International Corporation (JBIC). The project started in 1995 and is scheduled to be completed in 2004.
Rizal acknowledged that there was something amiss in the project's feasibility study, hence the drop in the river water level had not been detected earlier.
Local experts predict that North Sumatra will face a serious power crisis in the next three years if no power plants are built this year.
The existing power plants currently have a capacity to supply 1,250 megawatts of electricity but in the next three years the demand for power is forecast to rise by between 10 percent and 20 percent.
Marojahan, spokesman for the local office of state electricity company PT PLN said that ideally the province should have more than 2,000 megawatts in reserve, instead of the current 400 megawatts.
"In anticipation of a possible power shortage, PLN decided to build the hydroelectric power plant and another one in Sipansihaporas in the regency, with a total capacity of 200 megawatts.
Meanwhile, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro said on the sidelines of his visit to the Gas and Coal-fired Power Plant (PLTGU) in Sicanang, Belawan, some 30 kilometers north of the city on Friday, that the government was still negotiating with some investors to build another three power plants in the province.
The PLTGU currently under construction in Sibolga regency is projected to have a capacity of 200 megawatts while Geothermal Power Plant (PLTPB) Sarulla, also under construction, will have 300 megawatts, and PLTA Asahan I and II 586 megawatts.