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Business |
Major hydro electric plant in
Morobe
Mining sector’s demand for electricity
increasing
By JASON SOM KAUT
PNG Power will build
a new 240MW power station in Ramu to meet the increasing demand
for electricity from the mining sector.
To be known as Ramu 2, the new power station will cost an
estimated K1 billion with likely financing from the Chinese
government and guaranteed by the Papua New Guinea Government.
This was revealed by sources in PNG Power yesterday, who said
new resource projects in Highlands and Momase regions had seen
an increase in demand.
The new power station will be built at Yonki downstream of the
existing power station that will be bigger than all current
systems put together.
A 16MW station will also be built at the Yonki Toe of the Yonki
dam.
Currently, total supply for both Port Moresby and Ramu is 75MW
each while the Gazelle system supplies 12MW.
The proposed power station will supply electricity to Hidden
Valley mine in the Morobe province, the Ramu nickel mine in
Madang and Kainantu gold mine, among others.
Currently, the state-owned power generator is undertaking
various projects to meet the rising demand.
Sources also revealed that submission of tenders had closed for
the building of two substations and 105km of power lines to
bring power to the Hidden Valley mine that was expected to begin
operations in 2009.
Budgeted works were estimated between K30 million and K50
million and must be built within a 12-month period. Six bidders
will be evaluated and the contract awarded in October.
Because of the high cost involved, scope of work and the limited
time frame all six tenders received were from international
contractors.
New projects in Lae include building of new power lines to the
Niugini Tablebirds factory at Six Mile.
 
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