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It's all relative in Kalla power project

Vice President Jusuf Kalla on Friday paid a visit to the Central Sulawesi town of Poso to see a hydroelectric power plant being built by companies controlled by his family

Adianto Simamora (The Jakarta Post)
Poso, Central Sulawesi
Sat, July 19, 2008

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It's all relative in Kalla power project

Vice President Jusuf Kalla on Friday paid a visit to the Central Sulawesi town of Poso to see a hydroelectric power plant being built by companies controlled by his family.

Kalla was accompanied by Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro.

The power plant in Sulewana hamlet is being built by PT Hadji Kalla, PT Bukaka Hydropower Engineering and Consulting Company and a subsidiary company PT Poso Energy.

The plant is located at the Sulewana waterfall, whose water originates from Lake Poso, and is designed to produce 180 megawatts of electricity.

"We hope to finish the project by the end of next year," Achmad Kalla, a brother of the Vice President, said.

Hadji Kalla Group, a holding company which developed from a firm founded by Kalla's father, runs a number of businesses, including an automotive dealership, car rental agency and electricity and construction firms. Bukaka Group, also controlled by Kalla's family, works in transportation and the cable business.

Since taking up a ministerial post in the Cabinet of President Abdurrahman Wahid in 1999, Kalla has given up his business control to his family.

The Sulewana power plant is part of the second phase of the government's program to generate 10,000 megawatts in new electricity, mostly relying on hydropower.

"For Sulawesi, which does not have coal, a hydroelectric power plant is the solution," Kalla said. "It needs more investment, but in the long run it will be a promising alternative."

The visit to Poso marked the beginning of Kalla's three-day trip to Sulawesi, which will also take him to Gorontalo and North Sulawesi. On Thursday evening Kalla closed the National Games in the East Kalimantan capital of Samarinda.

Kalla's trip coincides with the three-day visit of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to North Sumatra.

Kalla, who is also the Golkar Party leader, is scheduled to hold internal meetings in each of the Sulawesi provinces he tours. The itinerary, prepared by the vice presidential office, does not provide details of the internal meetings.

During his stop in Poso, Kalla, accompanied by Central Sulawesi Governor Syahrul Yassin Limpo, visited the newly built Ittihadul Ummah Islamic boarding school in Tokorondo area.

Kalla planted an ebony tree named after him in the school's complex as a symbol of peace in Poso.

The Vice President also visited the Tentena Christian Church University, where he was greeted in a traditional ritual.

Poso was among the flashpoints of violence in the province that saw more than 1,000 killed in two years of conflict between Muslims and Christians in 2000-2001.

Kalla, then the minister of social affairs, brokered peace talks in Poso, which resulted in the Malino peace agreement in December 2001. Sporadic violence allegedly perpetrated by terror groups, however, has continued to taint the peace pact.

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