Court revokes environmental permit of coal-fired power plant project

Petromindo|Khalsa

The State Administrative Court (PTUN) had on December 6 revoked the environmental permit of the 2x1,000 MW PLTU Indramayu 2 coal-fired power plant project in Indramayu, West Java, following lawsuit filed by villagers and a non-governmental organization.

Director General of Electricity at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Andy Noorsaman Sommeng said on Monday that the ruling does not necessarily mean that the project must be stopped as state-owned electricity firm PT PLN, as the owner of the project, can still file for an appeal.

He, however, acknowledged that completion of the power plant project, which is part of the government?s 35,000 MW program, would be delayed.

The estimated US$4 billion power plant project, funded by the Japan for International Cooperation Agency (JICA), was supposed to start construction in 2018, and begin operation in 2021.

Andy said that PLN is expected to speed up the construction of the project once it won the appeal. He added that despite delay in the completion of the PLTU Indramayu project, future electricity supply in Java will not be disrupted as excess power reserves in the heavily-populated island now stands at around 30 percent. PLN officials could not be reached for comments.

Villagers have filed lawsuit against the coal-fired power plant project over health concerns and threat to their economic livelihoods.

This is the second coal-fired power plant project hampered by the court this year. Earlier in April, the PTUN also revoked the environmental permit of the 1,000 PLTU Cirebon II coal-fired power plant project in West Java Province following lawsuit filed by villagers and NGOs. But the provincial administration in July issued a new environmental permit, allowing project owner PT Cirebon Energi Prasarana to resume construction. (*)