Green Power Plant For Sungai Liang Park
By Sobrina Rosli

Bandar Seri Begawan - The Sungai Liang Authority (SLA) has already identified the contractor that is likely to build an environment-friendly power plant at Brunei's 571-hectare Sungai Liang Industry Park (Spark).

The power plant that will use alternative energy would form part of plans to construct a number of facilities to help attract locators at Spark, which is envisioned to be a world-class petrochemical hub.

In an interview with The Brunei Times, Aziz Latip, acting chief executive officer of SLA, said a company has been already identified and considered capable of providing such a plant at Spark.

"In Brunei, a lot of our power plants are driven by gas. I am looking at alternative energy. We have identified one we are seriously looking into to provide us a power plant with a capacity of 54 megawatt for Spark."

The SLA, the agency in charge of the developments of Spark, will manage the establishment of the plant through a public-private-partnership approach opening up opportunities for local investors.

"We have been assured that it is a clean sourced energy plant. I am excited about this because this would be a good start," he said.

The acting CEO said there are a lot of keen investors eyeing Spark as a preferred location for their downstream industries.

‘We do not have a power plant there yet. Gas is scarce in Brunei. So, the only way is to find a power plant to be driven by non-gas energy," he added.

The potential power plant builder has set up a similar facility in a neighbouring country, indicating its acceptance and capabilities there.

"They have a power plant in the region, accepted by the government there. That's why we are keen. That would answer my prayers, a power plant without sacrificing our gas," he added.

Other than providing other facilities such as water treatment facilities, the SLA will also assist investors through the provision of utilities for export, such as a single mooring system for the Brunei Methanol Plant (BMC), the park's earliest tenant to secure a 16-hectare site.

"For the methanol plant, we will be embarking on a single mooring system project to provide the plant with an export facility," he said.

The system will comprise a 24-inch pipeline that would go 13.5 kilometres into the South China Sea to a buoy.

"The project needs to be synchronised with when the methanol plant will start its operations in the last quarter of 2009. We will award this project by August of this year," he added.

Aziz said the SLA is continually improving the site to attract investors.

"When investors want to set up a plant, it would only take them -between 20 and 24 months to complete. Power plant and water treatment projects can be done in two years. 'If the facilities are not there yet, they would probably think it is not serious. This is my first priority," he said.

The authority approaches potential investors by stressing environmental protection as an essential precondition to be met through the approval of their environmental impact assessment report.

Site clearance is currently taking place at the industrial park.  -- Courtesy of The Brunei Times

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