Indominco plans to build mine-mouth power plant

East Kalimantan coal miner PT Indominco Mandiri, a unit of Thai conglomerate Banpu Plc, is considering building a mine-mouth power plant in Bontang, East Kalimantan.

Local newspaper Kaltim Pos reported on Wednesday that Banpu would build the power plant, which would have a capacity of 50 megawatt, in cooperation with the local administration and state-owned electricity company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN).

Bontang?s senior official Sjahid Daroini said on Tuesday that Banpu, the local government and PLN had reached an agreement to cooperate in building the power plant.

He said that the local government would provide the site for the power plant while PLN would buy the electricity to cope with the power shortage in the area.

?We hope the construction could be commenced next year,? Sjahid said.

In 2004, Indominco announced a plan to build a coal-fired mine-mouth power plant in East Kalimantan?s Kutai Timur regency. But it failed to realize the plan.

The firm produced around 11.5 million tons of coal in 2007 from its Bontang coalmine in East Kalimantan. (*)