PLN speeds up completion of Sumatra transmission lines
Monday, February 27 2017 - 04:55 AM WIB
Petromindo
State-owned electricity firm PT PLN aims to accelerate the completion of a total 1,400-km 500 kV transmission lines across Sumatra to end 2018, sooner than the initial schedule of March 2019.
The project and the new schedule have been included in its new 2017-2026 electricity procurement business plan (or RUPTL), Kontan.co.id reported over the weekend.
?It was initially (scheduled for completion) in March of 2019, but we?ll push it to end of 2018,? PLN President Director Sofyan Basir told the news portal.
He explained that PLN in the past had faced difficulties in completing land acquisition for the transmission line project. But the introduction of Presidential Regulation No 4/2016, which allows the company to acquire land at market price, instead of based on sale value of the tax object (or NJOP), will help speed up land acquisition process. ?This is a breakthrough to accelerate land acquisition process. The public now is willing to sell their land (for the project). The NJOP is only about a fourth of the market value,? he said.
He said that the 2017-2016 RUPTL document is expected to be completed this week.
The Sumatra transmission lines project is estimated to cost around Rp 22 trillion. (*)