Constrained By Land Acquisition, Construction Of Hauling Road RMKE Rampung Quarter II-2024

Mining illustration (Photo: dock. Antara)

JAKARTA - PT RMK Energy Tbk (RMKE) will focus on building infrastructure in order to improve its operational performance in 2024.

For this reason, RMKE has also prepared Rp300 billion as capital expenditure (capex) for the completion of the hauling road construction which connects RMKE's loading station in Gunung Megang to the PT Bukit Asam Tbk (PTBA) mine in the Bangko area.

RMKE Finance Director, Vincent Saputra said, of the 25 km planned, 7-8 km remained which were still constrained by land acquisition.

"What we want to complete is the release. We hope that before the end of the year, the release will be completed, and in the next 6 months we can focus on development," Vincent said in a presentation on RMKE's performance, quoted on Friday, November 3.

With a target train and barge unloading volume in 2024 of 12.4 million tons and sales volume of 3.6 million tons, said Vincent, infrastructure is the key to achieving targets in the future.

"Moreover, the price of coal has been normalized compared to 2022, this cost is very important. That's why we believe that by making infrastructure more efficient, we can reduce costs for miners who want to use services, and so that it can increase total coal production," explained Vincent.

It is known that until September 31, RMKE posted operating revenues of IDR 1.8 trillion, or decreased slightly by 3.4 percent yoy.

"This is due to price normalization which causes a significant decline in the coal sales segment," said Vincent.

Despite recording a decrease in operating income, operating income from the service segment managed to balance the decline caused by the normalization of the price. Operating income from the coal sales segment amounted to Rp1.2 trillion, or decreased by 19.5 percent yoy but operating income from services grew by 59.1 percent yoy to Rp620.5 billion in the third quarter.

Thus, continued Vincent, RMKE managed to increase the gross profit margin at the level of 23.6 percent, an increase of 130bps from 22.9 percent in the same period last year.