Rekadaya?s power projects to be completed in 2010

PT Rekadaya Elektrika has expressed optimism that three of four coal-fired power plants being built by the company outside Java will be able to begin commercial operation by the end of 2010.

The company?s President Director Djuanda Nugraha Ibrahim said in Jakarta on Tuesday that three power plants which were expected to begin operation next year would include a coal-fired power plant with a capacity of 2 x 10 MW in Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi; a coal fired power plant with a capacity of 2 x 7 MW in Ende, Flores; and a coal-fired power plant with a capacity of 2 x 7 MW in Tanjung Balau, Karimun Island.

?We are optimistic that the three power plants will be able to begin operation in the third quarter of 2010. At present, the construction has been 70 percent completed,? he said.

He said that the company?s fourth power project located in Ternate would be able to begin operation only in 2011 because the delay in the tender of the project. ?The construction of the 2 x 7 MW coal-fired power plant has only reached 15 percent,? he said.

Rekadaya, a joint venture between PLN, PT Pembangkit Jawa Bali and Indonesia Power, would spend a total of US$93 million for the construction of the four power plants, much higher than the original estimate.

The company earlier estimated the cost would reach no more than $74.4 million but due to an increase in the construction cost from $1.2 million per MW to $1.5 million per MW, the total cost had swelled to $93 million. (kanti)