Covid-19 halts Indonesia's Batang Toru hydropower project

The Batang Toru hydropower project in North Sumatra.

JAKARTA (The Jakarta Post/ANN): Development of the Batang Toru hydropower plant (PLTA) in South Tapanuli regency, North Sumatra, has been temporarily shut down as workers from mainland China are unable to fly to the country amid a travel ban implemented by the government over fears of the Covid-19 outbreak.

The company that will operate the plant, PT North Sumatra Hydro Energy (NSHE), said it had suspended the construction project in August last year after Chinese technical workers from contractor Sinohydro were terminated because they were unable to properly carry out their duties.

The senior advisor for the president commissioner of NSHE, Emmy Hafild, said the company had arranged for 125 replacement workers, but they were unable to reach the Batang Toru project site because of the travel ban.

“We don’t know when the Batang Toru project can continue as it depends on when the government will lift the travel ban to and from mainland China, ” Emmy told The Jakarta Post during a press meeting on Tuesday (Feb 18).

Emmy added that Batang Toru, which would cost Rp22 trillion (US$1.6 billion) and has a power capacity of about 510 megawatts, was a collaboration with the government as part of its 35,000-megawatt national electricity strategic project.

She said the company had so far been working on tunnelling for the project, which was mainly handled by Chinese workers. Therefore, Emmy said, the absence of Chinese workers had disrupted the current stage of construction.

“We hope to complete the Batang Toru project by 2022. But seeing the current conditions, we are certain that we will miss the target.”

Indonesia imposed a travel ban to and from China on Feb 5, preventing people who had stayed for more than two weeks in China to visit or transit in the country, amid efforts to avoid the deadly coronavirus from spreading to the archipelago.

Indonesia has yet to report any confirmed cases, but at least four people have tested positive overseas; one Indonesian maid in Singapore and three on the Diamond Princess cruise ship anchored off the coast of Japan. - The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network