KAI wants review over new tariffs of transporting PTBA?s coal

State railway operator PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) has planned to request the government to review coal transportation tariffs recently agreed on by KAI and state coal miner PT Batubara Bukit Asam (PTBA), Bisnis Indonesia daily reported Tuesday.

KAI?s operation director Omar Berto said the tariffs it had agreed on with PTBA were too low measured by international efficiency standards as mentioned in World Bank?s analyses.

?Tariffs should be decided according to market mechanisms. It will not be a problem for us if PTBA does not want us to transport its coal any longer,? Omar said.

In October, KAI and PTBA agreed that the railway operator would charge the coalminer Rp37,000 (US$=Rp8.800) for each of coal transported from PTBA?s coal mining sites in Muara Enim, South Sumatra, to Lampung, from where the commodity will be shipped to Suralaya power plant in Banten on Java Island.

They also agreed that the Rp37,000 tariff would be effective only if KAI transports 8.5 million tons of coal annually, and that the tariff would be lowered if less coal is transported.

Omar said the amounts earned by KAI from transporting PTBA?s coal were much lower than what it had received from transporting other items like fuel and pulp for other companies operating in South Sumatra. KAI carried pulp of PT Enim Tanjung Lestari, a subsidiary of Sinar Mas Group, Omar said.

KAI officials said the company could transport no more than 6.5 million tons of coal annually from Muara Enim to Lampung. (*)