"Construction of transmission tower is not yet finished," spokesman of Pekanbaru unit of PLN Abdul Hafis said here on Wednesday.
Abdul said the power plant was scheduled to come on stream this year but it has been decided that operation would be postponed until 2016 .
He said agreement on price has yet to be reached between PLN and owners of lands needed for the transmission tower.
"The land owners demanded too high price , much higher than the price offered by PLN," he said.
Originally it was expected that construction of the transmission networks could be finished in October trial operation of the power pant could take place in December.
Abdul said PLN hopes to cooperate with district administration in seeking to wrap up the process of land clearing.
"We will coordinate with the Pekanbaru city administration," he said, adding, he hopped the delay would not be too long.
He said construction of the transmission networks is only a minor part of the project, therefore, PLN is optimistic the power plant could start operation not later than March, 2016.
The power produced from the Tenayan Raya steam powered electric plant would be supplied to the Sumatra interconnection.
It would help reduce crisis in power supply in Sumatra , he said.
Regions in Sumatra notably North Sumatra have complained about frequent blackouts causing inconvenience and affecting the process of production in industry.
Therefore, the people should be aware of their obligation to support plan to build more power plants in Sumatra, he said.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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