Construction of Bontang power plant still uncertain

The Bontang authority has asked PT Altra to clarify whether or not the company would go ahead with its plan to build a power plant in the municipality, Kaltim Pos reported on Wednesday.

Bontang mayor Sofyan Hasdam said in Tarakan on Tuesday that the local government needed to know if the investor was still committed to the project. "If not, we will seek another investor to carry out the project," he said.

According to him, if PT Altra pulls out from the project, the local government will ask PT Badak NGL, the operator of the Bontang LNG plant, or local coal producer PT Banpu Indominco to build the power plant.

He said before the power project was realized, the local government would cooperate with PT Badak LNG to cope with the power shortage in the municipality. According to him, the LNG producer had offered to allocate about 8 MW of power supply from its power plant for the public. (*)