Pirelli will build undersea cable linking Java and Sumatra

Pirelli, a major business group of Italy, and the state-owned electricity company PLN will cooperative in the installation of undersea electricity cable linking Java and Sumatra, Koran Tempo reported from Rome on Wednesday.

The agreement on the installation of the US$120 million electricity cable was signed in Rome by PLN?s director Eddie Widiono Suwondo, and CEO of Pirello Valerio Batista with the presence of Taufik Kiemas, the husband of President Megawati Sukarnoputri, and Adolfo Urso, the Italian deputy foreign trade minister.

The Italian company would try to find the financial source for the undersea cable project. " Perhaps from Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP)," Batista said.

The high voltage undersea cable will use a cable with a diameter of 40 cm and with length of 30 kilometers. "For the first stage, the cable will supply about 200 MW of power from Java to Sumatra," Batista added.

PLN?s director Eddie said that the undersea cable would be built to cope with the acute shortage of power supply in South Sumatra. "There is an excess of supply of about 1,000 MW in Java, while South Sumatra suffers a supply shortage of 200 MW," he added.(*)