Pelindo II hopeful coal recovery to revive railway project

By Thomas Sembiring

State-owned port operator PT Pelindo II hopes that the current recovery in the price of coal will be sustainable to allow for the resumption of stalled coal railway project linking its Pulau Baai Port in Bengkulu Province with mines in South Sumatra Province.

This was said by Pelindo II Director for Business Development, Saptono R. Irianto, on the sidelines of last week?s 4th Annual Coal Buyers and Producers Meeting in Jakarta held by Petromindo.com.

He said that Pelindo II is hopeful that construction of the coal railway project that will link Tanjung Enim in South Sumatra with the Pulau Baai Port can be resumed to bolster the role of the port in the distribution of coal not only for the overseas market but also domestic market as demand at home is projected to surge when the current coal-fired power plant projects will be completed in 2020.

He said that the coal railway project was suspended following the drop in the price of coal. Coal price has recently started to recover, rising by about 35 percent over the past five months, as China clamped down on production. Saptono did not say the coal price level target that would lead to the revival of the 230-km double-track railway project.

Saptono said that the railway project will pass through four coal stations in South Sumatra including the Muara Enim station with coal loading capacity of 2,000 tons per hour, Lahat station (2,000 tons per hour), Empat Lawang (10,000 tons per hour), and Taba Penanjung (6,000 tons per hour).

This portal previously reported that Pelindo II plans to double the coal handling capacity of its Pulau Baai Port by adding a new coal jetty. The capacity is planned to be increased from the current 5 million tons per year to 10 million tons, Saptono said.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak