Coal shortage still haunts Suralaya despite supply commitments
Tuesday, February 10 2004 - 01:40 AM WIB
Despite having secured help from Kalimantan coal producers to ease supply shortage that plagues Suralaya power plant, operator Indonesia Power said that supply problem would still linger, as supplies would not come smoothly.
Indonesia Power president Firdaus Akmal said that rain that hit Kalimantan recently coupled with vessel shortage would slow down the supply. ?More over, there will be long queue at Indonesia Power?s unloading facility as it had limited unloading capacity,? said Firdaus.
He, therefore, predicted that until April this year, coal stock at Suralaya would remain at critical level of one-week consumption, or around 250,000 tons, far below normal stock of around 750,000 tons.
Suralaya is in serious coal-supply problem as PTBA was forced to cut supply to Suralaya due to transportation problem.
The 3,400-MW Suralaya power plant is main supplier of Java electricity grid.(*)