PLN begins construction of 19-km transmission cable in Banten

State-owned electricity firm PT PLN started on Tuesday construction of a 150 kV extra high voltage transmission cable, linking Cikupa-Curug in Tangerang, Banten Province.

Construction of the 19-km transmission cable, which will help improve the quality of power supply to its customers particularly in Tangerang, is expected to be completed in November 2018, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

PLN is teaming up with PT Prysmian Cables Indonesia, a cable manufacturer, in the project, which is part of the 1,000-km transmission cables being developed by the utility company across the country.

According to Haryanto WS, a director at PLN, the utility firm actually needs to develop a total of 2,000-km transmission cables across the country, but the four existing domestic cable makers including PT Prysmian, PT KMI Wire & Cables Tbk, PT Supreme Cable Manufacturing & Commerce Tbk, and PT Jembo Cable Company Indonesia Tbk only have combined annual production capacity for 1,000-km cables.

He said that for the remaining projects, PLN will have to hold tender with cables to be imported.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak