RI, Malaysia to speed up construction of Sarawak-Kalimantan power grid

State-owned electricity company PLN and Malaysian electricity company Tenaga Nasional Berhad have reached an agreement to speed up the construction of a power grid linking Sarawak in the northern part of Kalimantan and West Kalimantan, Kompas reported Thursday.

Director general of electricity and energy use at the ministry of energy and mineral resources J. Purwono said in Jakarta that PLN and Tenaga would renew their cooperation agreement on the project next year.

"The construction works will commence after the signing of the agreement, and hopefully it will be completed in two years," he told reporters following a meeting with the chief commissioner of Tenaga Tan Sri Leo Muggi in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The plan to build the 150 kV transmission grid linking West Kalimantan and Sarawak was firstly unveiled in 1996. But it had been delayed due to financial crisis which hit Indonesia in late 1997.

With the 231-Km power grid, PLN will be able to get cheaper electricity supply from its Malaysian counterpart. The price of the electricity to be supplied by Tenaga is about four U.S. cent per kWh, much lower than the average cost for PLN's power generation which reaches about six U.S. cent per kWh.

"In the first stage, PLN will receive power supply of about 50 megawatt from Sarawak. It is not much but sufficient enough to cope with the power shortage in West Kalimantan," Purwono said. (*)