S. Sumatra coal road to be launched soon

A 116 Km special coal road in South Sumatra is scheduled to be officially launched at the end of this month, said Head of the Transportation Office of the South Sumatra provincial administration, Musni Wijaya.

?We have visited the coal road, and generally it is ready and has been tried out, but we want to make sure so that there will be no more problems after the launching,? Musni was quoted by Bisnis Indonesia Wednesday.

The special coal road was initially developed in 2009 by PT Servo Lintas Raya, a subsidiary of the Servo Group, with a target to complete it in 2011. But difficulties in getting the financing for the project has caused delays, and prompted Servo to sell the project last year to Titan Group.

Musni said that the completion of the Titan Group coal road and a similar 76 Km coal road being developed by PT Bara Marga Sejahtera would allow the current ban on the use of public roads in South Sumatra for coal transport to become effective.

Kompas reported that despite the ban, which has been applied since January of last year, hundreds of coal trucks in South Sumatra continue use public roads, particularly after six in the evening, causing heavy traffic jams.

Musni said that the administration was facing difficulties to enforce the ban due among others to the lack of personnel. (*)