Bengkulu (ANTARA) - Indonesian Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Ignasius Jonan said an evaluation would be carried out for the 2 x 100 Megawatt coal-fired power plant (PLTU) project built by PT Tenaga Listrik Bengkulu in Sepang Bay, Bengkulu City, Bengkulu Province, if a mismatch of Environmental Impact Analysis was found.
"If Bengkulu State Administrative Court finds a discrepancy with the environmental impact analysis, the development project of coal fired power plant will be reviewed," Jonan wrote in his personal Instagram account on Sunday.
Jonan's statement was delivered to respond to the official Instagram upload of the Kanopi, an environmental organization based in Bengkulu Province, which in the last three years together with the Teluk Sepang community rejected the coal fired power plant project due to environmental pollution.
On June 22, Kanopi uploaded factsheets critizing the Sepang Bay coal-fired power plant entitled "Why #Bengkulu Sued the Sepang Bay PLTU".
Bengkulu residents have registered lawsuit against the environmental permit of PT Tenaga Listrik Bengkulu to the Bengkulu State Administrative Court on June 20.
As a member of the Indonesian Forum for Environment for Bengkulu, Kanopi suspected that there has been a falsification of the Bengkulu residents' agreement, and claimed that the establishment of the coal fired power plant was above the red zone prone to earthquake and tsunami.
Chairman of the Bengkulu Kanopi Ali Akbar said the document of environmental impact analysis has stated 92 percent of the Bengkulu people agreed to the project and eight percent of the community were hesitant, despite the fact that the affected residents had repeatedly voiced opposition to the power plant project.
Even the community has sent a letter containing signatures of people who rejected the power plant development project to the Governor of Bengkulu Ridwan Mukti and Indonesian President Joko Widodo in June 2016.
The community also repeatedly expressed the rejection in open forums, during the event of disseminating the project's environemental impact analysis and at the beginning of the development of the power plant on October 25, 2016.
Ali claimed the existence of the project also contradicted the Regional Spatial Plan of Bengkulu Province.
The regulation clearly stated that the project site was located above a red zone prone to earthquake and tsunami and belonged to geological protected areas.
Therefore, the local residents and activists urged the Bengkulu governor to revoke the project's environmental permit.
The Sepang Bay coal fired power plant project was being built with loan capital worth 270 million US dollars from Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd and the Export of Import Bank of China. The project under construction is targeted to be completed in the first half of 2020.
Minister Jonan evaluates coal fired power plant of Bengkulu
Warga berunjukrasa saat mendaftarkan gugatan ke Pengadilan Tata Usaha Negara (PTUN) Bengkulu meminta pengadilan membatalkan dan mencabut izin lingkungan PLTU batu bara Teluk Sepang, Kota Bengkulu. (Helti Marini Sipayung)
