A joint operation of state owned construction firm PT Pembangunan Perumahan (PP) and publicly listed oil and gas service provider PT Elnusa won the IDR1.7 trillion bid from the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry on the construction of the Cirebon-Semarang (CISEM) natural gas pipeline.
The first phase of the project will extend from the Central Java provincial capital of Semarang to Batang, where an industrial zone is under development. The tender has been effective since May 23, 2022, with a project scheduled for 15 months.
“The existing pipeline is currently connecting Gresik [East Java] and Semarang. The new phase of the construction will connect Semarang and Cirebon [West Java],” Eddy Herman Harun, Head of PP-Elnusa joint operation, said on May 17, 2022. “The funding is from both companies since we have a long cooperation.”
“The availability of adequate and sustainable infrastructure is an urgent need to support the implementation of national development in order to improve the national economy, improve the welfare of the people and increase Indonesia’s competitiveness in global competition,” said the ministry’s Director General of Oil and Gas Tutuka Ariadji.
The project is needed to anticipate the rising gas demand in East and Central Java.
Back in 2006, state engineering firm PT Rekayasa Industri (Rekind) was appointed to build the gas transmission pipe project. But after 14 years of zero progress, Rekind backpedaled from the project.
The gas pipeline project is implemented using technology such as an automatic welding machine or horizontal drilling to penetrate rivers, mountains, and other geographical obstacles. According to Harun, the company is very open to accepting technology vendors from anywhere, as long as the price is competitive to acquire.
The gas pipeline project will have a second phase of the Batang-Cirebon section with a line of approximately 120 kilometers long and will be tendered by the energy ministry. The ministry has budgeted IDR650 billion in acquiring pipe materials, gas metering systems, control welds and so on.
