Work on Timor Heavy Oil Project believed to have stopped

Work stops on Hera Heavy Oil Project? - La'o Hamutuk continues to closely follow the misguided Heavy Oil Power plant project, and made another visit to the Hera generating site on 22 September. Based on this visit and other information we have obtained, we have updated our web page (with photos) at http://www.laohamutuk.org/Oil/Power/08PowerPlant.htm. The following text is from today's update to that page.

Power Plant and National Electrical Grid Mega-project or mega-problem? Work suspended in September

In early August 2009, a banner was erected at the Hera site, and Timorese workers began building walls along the site boundary, and earthworks within the site.

Work on the Hera project stopped a few weeks later. La'o Hamutuk has been told that the Government reallocated $70 million from the Heavy Oil Project to the "Referendum Package" of local infrastructure projects. By late September, the Government has not publicly mentioned any problems with the heavy oil project. However, people involved with the project tell La'o Hamutuk that the suspension is temporary, to correct errors made by the contractor, and that work will resume shortly.

On 22 September, the Hera site was empty of workers, as it had been for several weeks. A stone wall surrounding the site was left unfinished.

As always, La'o Hamutuk would be grateful for additional information or corrections from any source, anonymous, official or otherwise.

Obrigado barak.


Charles Scheiner
La'o Hamutuk (The Timor-Leste Institute for Development Monitoring and Analysis)
P.O. Box 340, Dili, Timor-Leste (East Timor)
Telephone: +670-3325013 or +670-734-0965 mobile
email: cscheiner@igc.org website: http://www.laohamutuk.org skype: cscheiner