PLN temporarily halts Upper Cisokan Hydroelectric Project following landslide

PT PLN (Persero) Central Java Development Unit (UIP JBT) has temporarily halted all work activities on the Upper Cisokan Hydroelectric Power Plant (PLTA) project in West Java following a landslide in the area.

Senior Manager for Permits, Land, and Communications at PLN UIP Central Java, Ferdyan Hijrah Kusuma, stated that the temporary suspension was implemented as an anticipatory measure and initial response at the affected site.

“Indeed, a landslide occurred due to high rainfall. As a follow-up action, the area along with locations prone to landslides has been sterilised, and all work activities have been temporarily stopped,” he said in West Bandung on Saturday.

He noted that the suspension is accompanied by an inspection process by PLN’s technical team in the field.

The inspection aims to map the soil structure conditions and ensure safety levels before work can resume.

He emphasised that following the incident, they immediately took security measures by sterilising the area around the landslide site.

They also confirmed that during the landslide, there were no work activities in the affected area, thus causing no fatalities or disruptions to workers on site.

“At the time of the landslide, there were no work activities at the location, and there were no casualties from this disaster,” he added.

Meanwhile, the West Bandung Regency Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) has also mobilised to handle the situation by deploying a team to the incident site.

This step is part of cross-sector coordination to ensure post-landslide conditions.

Head of BPBD West Bandung, Asep Sehabbudin, said they have coordinated with the Rongga Sub-district Head and confirmed no casualties in the incident.

“We from BPBD will also deploy members on Saturday for handling at the site,” he said.

Furthermore, BPBD along with related parties will conduct field data collection as well as mapping of potential hazards around the project area.

This effort is to anticipate the possibility of follow-up landslides, given the weather conditions that still pose a risk of rain in the region.

The Upper Cisokan PLTA is a pumped storage hydroelectric power plant project in West Java, located on the border of West Bandung and Cianjur Regencies.

The project has an installed capacity of around 1,040 MW with four turbine units each of 260 MW, designed to store and generate electrical energy by utilising two reservoirs at different elevations (upper and lower).