Cisokan hydro power plant may be delayed
Saturday, October 9 2010 - 01:23 AM WIB
One of the conditions set by the Bank is that PLN must settle land acquisition and compensate 300 families to be evicted by the project.
PLN's managing director Dahlan Iskan said that PLN was still waiting for the National Land Agency (BPN) to determine the location of the project, which will span around 800 hectares.
?We don?t want to deprive people there, because the rules of obtaining the funds from the World Bank are very strict, so this is of our considerable concern,? he said after attending a coordination meeting with West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan and National Development Planning Board Infrastructure and Facilities deputy Dedy S. Priatna.
PLN is working together with the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) to conduct the feasibility studies. ?ITB is looking for the most suitable location," he added.
Despite that, Dedy said BPN had other intentions in regards to the project location.
According to BPN, added Dedy, as a public company, PLN requires a location permit and not a decision on a location.
Governor Ahmad Heryawan said his office was still waiting for the decision from BPN, which when issued, land acquisition is to be carried out by the team of nine, including the provincial administration and the Cianjur and West Bandung regency administrations.
If BPN issues the location permit, PLN will acquire the land.
Dahlan said that a difference of interpretation currently remains between PLN and a number of institutions authorized to issue the permit regarding the use of the 800-hectare land. ?The permit has yet to be issued, but there is still enough time,? he said.
PLN is required t? immediately get the fixed replacement location because the World Bank insists that all conditions and permits be completed and handed over to it 120 days before the deal is secured. The agreement is scheduled to be signed in February 2011. It could be postponed to 2012 if the time limit of 120 days has passed.
Dahlan said the World Bank loan was the only source of funds for the construction of the first PLTA Pumped Storage project in Indonesia.
The Rp 6 trillion will be used for the entire construction of the project, including land acquisition, purchase of turbines and road infrastructure.
The Upper Cisokan PLTA will be equipped with four power generators, each with an output capacity of 260 megawatts. Power produced by the plant will be integrated with the Java-Bali power network.
At the meeting, PLN had submitted a proposal to use 382.21 hectares of land for the project, 96.56 hectares of which is located in Cianjur regency and 285.65 hectares in South Bandung. (*)