Power projects to give a boost to Bukit Asam

State owned coal miner PT Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam plans to boost production sixfold by 2011 to meet demand from Chinese and domestic power producers, a company official said.

Production would increase to 61.7 million tons a year in the next five years from an annual 9.7 million tons currently, company technical director A.C. Purba said in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The government has launched a crash program to develop 10,000 Megawatt coal-fired power plants within three years to reduce the nation?s dependence on power plants using expensive oil as fuel. Chinese investors have pledged to help Indonesia realize the projects.

"We will work with third parties to mine the coal within our areas and they will sell the output back to us," Purba said.

Bukit Asam will build a 200-MW coal-fired power plant in Lahat, South Sumatra

and another plant with four units of 600 MW each in Muara Enim in the province, where the company's coal fields are located, President Director Ismet Harmaini said.

The plants, based near the Bukit Asam's mines, will burn up to 12 million tons of coal a year supplied by Bukit, Purba said. The plants will be built by 2009 and 2010, respectively.

The company will cooperate with China Railway Corp. to construct a double

track railway from Tanjung Enim in South Sumatra to a port in Lampung in the southern part of the island to improve its distribution network.

The track is expected to transport 20 million tons of coal a year to be sold to the southern part of China and the local market starting 2010, Purba said.

The company also plans to construct a railway and canal from Tanjung Enim in South Sumatra to a port in nearby Bangka Island. (Godang)