CNKO eyes mine-mouth power plant

Publicly listed coal mining company PT Exploitasi Energi Indonesia Tbk (CNKO) plans to further expand its business into electricity sector in a bid to further increase its profitability, Kontan reported on Thursday.

As part of the expansion program, the company will join a tender to build a coal-fired power plant with a capacity of 2 x 300 megawatt in South Sumatra, which will cost at least US$1.2 billion to build.

CNKO President Director Henry Sitanggang said that the company would cooperate with other parties to build the mine-mouth power plant. One of the options is to form a consortium with other companies such as Huadian of China in building the power plant, which is scheduled to begin commercial operation in 2015.

At present, CNKO is building two coal-fired power plants in Rengat and Sembilahan, both in Riau islands. The power plants will have capacity of 2 x 7 MW each. (*)