Indonesia offers to sell electricity to Malaysia
Thursday, October 19 2000 - 04:00 AM WIB
Indonesia offered to sell electricity to Malaysia through a 170-km-long underwater cable network from Riau to Johor, Malaysia, news agency AFX-Asia quoted Indonesian Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro on Wednesday.
Purnomo said Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid raised the proposal with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad during their meeting in Langkawi on Tuesday.
"Dr. Mahathir said he would consider the matter," Purnomo said.
Riau has sizable coal deposits, and Indonesia is willing to set up a coal-powered power station in Riau to supply electricity to Malaysia, he said.
The area could produce some 5,000 MW of electricity, Purnomo said.
President of the state-owned electricity company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), Kuntoro Mangkusubroto said that such a project would be economically viable.
"It's possible, because we have a project in Riau that we've been thinking of for quite some time, it's the Cirenti project," he told reporters in Jakarta.
He said that Cirenti had enough coal to make the development of a power plant feasible.
By using an underwater cable, he said, Indonesia could sell electricity to Malaysia.
"We've been thinking about developing the Cirenti project for about 10 years," he added.
Kuntoro could not estimate the project cost, but added that it would have to involve independent power producers, as PLN was unable to commit for large investments.
PLN is one of the worst performing state companies with losses soaring to Rp 11.58 trillion (US$1.3 billion) in the first semester of this year.
Kuntoro further assured that selling power to Malaysia under the Cirenti project would not hurt domestic power supplies.
He said that power demand in Riau would be unable to absorb Cirenti's capacity, so some could be sold to Malaysia. (*)