E. Kalimantan coal railway project to complete FS
Thursday, September 20 2007 - 03:09 AM WIB
The first phase of the 350-km-long-coal railway construction project in
A meeting attended by representatives of South Korean and Indonesian consortium and the East Kalimantan’s provincial government in Samarinda Wednesday disclosed that the Korean consortium made up of Posco Engineering & Construction Ltd and Kenertec Co Ltd. would bear the overall cost of the project.
In July 2007, the Korean consortium signed Memorandum of Agreement to construct coal railway project with Indonesian consortium made up of PT Nuansa Cipta Coal Investment and state railway firm PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI).
Representative Director Kenertec Guang Yil Hong is optimistic that the plan for building the coal railway could be materialized. “We are now waiting for the result of the feasibility study, which is expected to be completed at least in the coming October,” he said.
He explained that the 350-km-long-coal railway, to be built in the first phase, will connect East Kalimantan and
Meanwhile, PT Nuansa’s director Makbul Sujudi said that the physical construction of the coal railway project is expected to start in 2009 and will take between three and four years to complete.
PT KAI’s head for accident prevention affairs division Budi Noviantoro said that with the construction of the railway track, it is expected that around 18.5 million tons of coal can be transported each year.
Budi said that based on the latest study in 2006 by Japanese firms Nippon Koei and Marubeni Corp., Mahakam is a recommended area for the construction of the coal railway track considering that the area has huge coal deposit.
The 350-km-long coal railway track will start from