Balangan power plant project in S. Kalimantan cancelled

A coal-fired power plant project with a capacity of  2x65 megawatt (MW) in Balangan regency, South Kalimantan has been cancelled following the government’ move to revoke coal contract of work (PKP2B) from PT Bentala Coal Mining, which is supposed to supply coal to the power plant, Media Indonesia reported Monday.

 

General Manager of South and Central Kalimantan’s chapter of state electricity firm PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) Ari Agus Salim said in Banjarmasin Sunday that as a result of the government’s move to revoke PT Bentala Coal Mining’s PKP2B, the plan to construct the coal-fired power plant had been automatically cancelled.

 

The company was granted a contract to develop coal on 23,000 hectares of land. The central government had revoked the contract because only little amount of coal was found there, he said.

 

A consortium called Barata-Bentala Balangan consortium in cooperation with PLN planned to build a 2x65 Megawatt power plant worth Rp 1.5 trillion using coal from the contract area to solve power crisis in South and Central Kalimantan .

 

Meanwhile, South Kalimantan governor Rudy Arifin regretted the termination of the project, hoping, however, that PLN and other investors could realize the plan to build a new power plant in other areas like in Banjar and Tabalong regency to solve power crisis in South and Central Kalimantan .

 

In Dec 2005, a number of local private companies and consortiums grouped in the Communication Forum of Private Electricity Producers (FKPLS) plan to build 26 small and medium-scale power plants, with a total investment of about US$1 billion. The Balangan power project is part of the planned projects by FKPLS. (*)