Melaka-Sumatera Power Line Project Creates Strategic Partnership

By Noor Azmi Hamdan MEDAN, Dec 9 (Bernama) -- Chief Minister of the Malaysian state of Melaka Mohd Ali Rustam said the RM1.2 billion electrical cable project near Telok Gong, Alor Gajah, would create a strategic partnership in energy usage between Melaka and Sumatera. He said the project that involves a collaboration between Malaysia's utility company Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) and Indonesia's PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), had been agreed upon by the two parties last year. It would be implemeted in two phases with the first scheduled to commence in 2014 and completed three years later, he told reporters after the 8th Governor and Chief Minister Forum in conjunction with the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT) Conference here. Under phase one, the project would generate up to 300MW of power while phase two 600MW, he said. "It's one of the master plan programmes between Melaka and Sumatera, and through this collaboration, we don't need to build many electric generating stations because the two regions can share electrical power," he said. He said that through this project, unused electric power in Telok Gong at night would be supplied to Sumatera while during the day, it would be Sumatera's turn to supply elecricity for use in the Peninsular through Telok Gong. "This collaboration brings a win-win situation to both regions, simultenously helps grow the economy in the Peninsular west coast and Sumatera including the coastlines along Straits of Melaka," he said. Ali said that another project to be undertaken was the construction of a ro-ro ferry terminal for services between Malaka and Dumai but the location had been moved from Tanjung Bruas to Klebang, he said. Service at the Klebang terminal would take time because the reclamation work had not finished, he said. The IMT-GT Forum, attended by about 500 participants from the three countries, was opened by North Sumatera Governor H. Gatot Pujonugroho. Present was Thai's Joint Business Council Head Bonchuay Chansiliwathana Thamrong. The IMT-GT covers 14 provinces in Thailand, eight states in Malaysia and 10 provinces in Sumatera with a combined 80.5 million population. -- BERNAMA