LEGISLATORS THREATEN TO TAKE ACTION AGAINST POWER FIRM

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Nov 15 (ANTARA) - Indonesian legislators have threatened to take action against state-owned electricity company PLN for its inefficient operations, which have resulted in huge losses to the state, by getting the matter investigated by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) or the House's special inquiry committee.      The proposal to report the issue to the KPK was made by lawmaker Sukarnotomo of the House of Representatives (DPR)'s Commission VII on energy affairs.      His DPR colleague Dewi Aryani called for the appointment of an inquiry committee to investigate the PLN case which, according to a State Audit Board (BPK) report, caused the state losses of Rp37.6 trillion.      Both legislators made their proposals during a hearing last Tuesday before the House Commission VII and State-owned Enterprise Minister Dahlan Iskan, who was the PLN president director when the problems began in 2009-10.            The hearing was also attended by Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Jero Wacik and Head of now-defunct Upstream Oil and Gas Regulating Body (PB Migas) R Priyono.         "The results of the BPK audit indicated that problems began with PLN in the 2009-10 period, which led to losses of Rp37.6 trillion. If this case is further investigated, the figure could be much bigger," Soekarnotomo told the hearing, which was presided over by Effendi Simbolon, the deputy chairman of Commission VII.          He said there was no need to discuss the issue with the Commission anymore and the matter should be reported to the KPK. According to Sukarnotomo, the state audit board has submitted 67 recommendations, of which 56 recommendations were directed to PLN and 11 others to the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, BP Migas, and state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina.          "Of the 56 recommendations, 25 have been explained while 25 others are yet to be answered for. If the case is followed up, the losses suffered from PLN's inefficiencies could be much higher than Rp37 trillion, possibly reaching Rp100 trillion," he stated.          Therefore, Sukarnotomo, who is a politician of the ruling Democratic Party, encouraged the House to report the audit results of PLN to KPK.          Meanwhile, Dewi said: "Many problems came to the fore after the BPK carried out the audit on the state-owned power company."     "The audit also showed that there was no coordination among the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, BP Migas and PLN on using the budget. PLN, for example, up to now has no intention of replacing coal with gas for its power generators," she noted.          "It seems that Dahlan, the then PLN president director, did not have a proper plan with regard to using the nation¿s primary energy resources," Dewi added.          According to Dahlan, however, the losses incurred at PLN "were due to gas unavailability".          "Hence, the state-owned company was forced to switch to diesel fuel, which is more expensive than gas," he explained     "The BPK said the inefficiency was not caused by corruption but due to the low availability of gas, forcing the PLN to use diesel fuel," Dahlan pointed out.          He noted that the PLN's gas requirements for its eight power plants were not fulfilled, which forced the company to use fuel oil.     "If the PLN did not switch to fuel oil, most people in Jakarta would have experienced a blackout," Dahlan stated.          In its report No.30/Auditama VII/ PDTT/09/2011, the BPK stated that the losses incurred through the eight power plants during 2009-10 were due to the usage of fuel oil instead of gas at in PLN's power plants.          "This gave rise to the impression that PLN suffered Rp37 trillion in losses, while its book recorded a profit of Rp9 trillion," the minister explained. Dahlan noted that although the bookkeepers had reported a profit, he did not consider that an achievement.           "At that time I faced two choices: power outages in Jakarta or usage of fuels. I chose usage of fuels," he said.       "The BPK also made it clear that the inefficiency was not caused by corruption, but due to low availability of gas," Dahlan pointed out.          Therefore, the minister dared the lawmakers to report the case to the KPK.          "If this case is taken to the KPK, it is better. I will support it," the minister said.          "Having the case heard by the KPK will be a positive step, which will make the company's operations even more transparent," he added.***1*** (T.A014/INE/H-YH) (T.A014/A/KR-BSR/A/H-YH) 15-11-2012 21:40