PLN told to alter W. Papua power plant projects

By Thomas Sembiring

State-owned electricity firm PT PLN will have to alter the initial capacity design of two hydro power plant projects in Makbon District, Sorong Regency, West Papua Province, following protest from local tribes as the hydro projects would consequently inundate local cultural sites.

This was revealed by Head of the West Papua Administration Mining and Energy Office, Sefnat Baru to Petromindo.com recently.

He said that PLN plans to build a 25.7 MW hydro power plant utilizing water from the Warsamson River, and a 28 MW power plant utilizing water from the Kladuk River, under which the utility firm will develop dam facilities. The projects are targeted to be completed in 2020.

Sefnat said that while the local tribes generally agree to the planned hydro power plant projects, they don?t want the cultural sites to be destroyed by the development of the dam facilities. As such, PLN will have to scale down the initial design capacity of the projects.

He said that the capacity of the Warsamson hydro power project, which initially requires land of around 10 hectares, will likely to be scale down to 12-15 MW.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak