Difficulty In Land Clearing Delays Construction Of PLTU Batang

Jakarta, Sept 20 (Antara) - Difficulty in land clearing delays construction of a coal fired power plant (PLTU Batang) in the regency of Batang , Central Java, the government said. Chief Economics Minister Hatta Rajasa said around 20 percent of the land needed for the 2x1,000 megawatt power plant has yet to be cleared. "The tender winner wants the land clearing to be completed before the financial closing, which was set on Oct. 6," Hatta said here on Thursday. The winner of the tender for the Rp30 trillion project is a consortium of J-Power, Itochu and Adaro. He said agreement has not been reached over compensation with a group of land owners in that location. The government, therefore, might have to roll over the financial closing until the process of land clearing is wrapped up, he said. Meanwhile, Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), a creditor of the PLTU project has asked the government to immediately settle land clearing problem. Everything has been prepared for the implementation of the project including fund, license from the regional administration and analysis of environmental impact (Amdal), Hatta said. The first project, built under the government and private sector cooperation scheme using efficient and environmentally friendly technology, needs 233 hectares of land. So far Indonesia has no PLTU with a capacity of 1,000 MW per unit. The largest capacity so far is 660 MW recorded by the PLTU Tanjung Jati and PLTU Paiton.