W. Kalimantan set to receive Sarawak electricity in April 2016

Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB) could start supplying the 230MWof electricity purchased by Indonesian state-owned electricity firm PLN in April next year, according to Malaysia's state Tourism Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg, as reported by themalaysianinsider.com Saturday.

Indonesia is expected to finish the last 5 percent of its portion of the 46.8km 275MW transmission line ? from Mambong in Sarawak to Bengkayang in West Kalimantan ? before the end of the first quarter of 2016, he said.

The delayed completion of the power project was raised in the 19th Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines ? East AseanGrowth Area (BIMP-EAGA) meeting on Friday in Kota Kinabalu which Abang Johari attended as the Sarawak representative.

This meeting targeted completion of transmission infrastructure, with the Sarawak financing provided by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The infrastructure was supposed to have been completed by mid-2014.

Abang Johari said the power supply would provide opportunities to open up areas in West Kalimantan to industrial development and would kick-start the BIMP-EAGA Vision 2025 trans-Borneo power grid, which would envelope Kalimantan?s southern and eastern areas right up to Sabah.

This cross-border power transmission project was identified as part of the long-term plan to connect isolated national power grids in Borneo.

SEB chief executive officer Datuk Dale Torstein Sjotveit earlier said the power exchange agreement with PLN was for a period of five years and that PLN would be paying a rate above that of Sarawak domestic consumers.(*)