Lontar steam power station to be operational in December

The under-construction steam power plant, PLTU Banten 3, in Lontar village, Kemiri district, Tangerang regency, is at 70 percent of total completion.

“We will likely be able to operate the plant for commercial purposes by the end of the year,” Wawan Darmawan, engineering manager at the Lontar station told journalists Friday.

He said the power plant is designed to produce 3 x 315 megawatts of electricity.

“We still have to complete a series of projects, comprising tests, checks and rechecks, prior to its operation,” he said at an event to distribute shrimp spawn to local residents at Kronjo district.

Empowering local farmers is part of corporate social responsibility programs the power station operator has initiated to win over local residents, who previously opposed the project.

In November 2008, dozens of angry locals torched the office of the project's contractor, PT Dongfang Electric Corporation, company dormitories, seven cars, three units of heavy machinery and a motorcycle.

The attack ended after dozens of Tangerang Police officers intervened and evacuated employees of the the project, including 94 foreigners, mostly Chinese nationals working as experts on the steam power station.