Jakarta, April 8 (Antara) - The government is expediting the
development of its power plant projects worth Rp1.2 thousand trillion to
achieve the target of generating an additional 35 thousand megawatts of
electricity during the next five years.
Thus, with the country's current capacity of 54 thousand megawatts, the
completion of the development of power plants, with a targeted capacity
of 35 thousand megawatts, will bring the country's total electricity
generation capacity to 89 thousand megawatts by the end of President
Joko Widodo (Jokowi) government's term in 2019.
President Jokowi has therefore reminded the state-owned electricity
firm PLN about the target to build power plants. He called for the
accelerated construction of power plants in a bid to meet the
electricity needs of the people and domestic industries.
"The target given to PLN was not small. Therefore, it should work
(towards the end) as fast as possible," President Jokowi remarked during
his visit to the PLN headquarters in South Jakarta on Tuesday.
The president pointed out that Indonesia's electricity requirement is
huge, primarily to help the industries that need a considerable amount
of power.
According to Vice President Jusuf Kalla, the government does not have
sufficient funds to develop the country's power plant projects.
Therefore, the private sector is expected to take part in the projects.
The government can only develop some 30 to 40 percent of the projects
and the remaining are expected to be built by private companies, which
will act as independent power producers (IPP).
This year, the government has set a target to develop 11 thousand
megawatts, and in 2016, it expects to have completed the second phase of
generating 10 thousand megawatts.
With regard to reaching the target of 11 thousand megawatts in 2015,
President Jokowi expressed confidence that it could be achieved. He also
admitted that he was aware of the on-field constraints but was certain
that they could be overcome.
The target of 10 thousand megawatts was set for 2016 as part of the
efforts to achieve the target of 35 thousand megawatts during the next
five years.
"If the targets of 11 thousand megawatts and 10 thousand megawatts for
this year and the next, respectively, are achieved, then it can be said
that the target of 35 thousand megawatts is already in sight," the
president remarked.
Jokowi further noted that the efforts to achieve the target of
generating 35 thousand megawatts was set to meet the needs of a large
number of industries, such as hotel industries that depend on power
supply to support the development of the tourism sector.
As several regions in the country still face power shortages, the head
of state affirmed that the government will continue to work hard to
achieve the target.
Therefore, Vice President Jusuf Kalla has also recommended that
state-owned electricity company PLN should expedite the construction of
power plants, with a total additional capacity of 35 thousand megawatts,
through the Independent Power Producer (IPP) mechanism, which involves
private players.
"PLN can provide only some Rp400 to Rp500 trillion (about US$30.4 to
US$38 billion) to construct the plants. We need more private players to
make electricity widely available," Kalla noted.
With that amount of funding, PLN is expected to construct a power plant
with a capacity of 10 thousand megawatts, while the responsibility of
constructing a section to generate 25 thousand megawatts will be given
to the private sector through the IPP mechanism.
The construction of power plants to generate an additional 35 thousand
megawatts of electricity is needed to support the economic growth target
of 6.5 percent per year.
Kalla also highlighted the importance of having adequate power
reserves. He stated that the national electricity reserve should be 30
percent of the existing capacity, taking into account the country's
growth of population and economy.
"Our
ideal electricity reserve should be 30 percent. We now have 54 thousand
megawatts. So, we must have at least 15 thousand megawatts as reserve
to prevent power outages," he explained.
The current availability of electricity reserve is only 10 percent, which results in power outages in several areas.
For the development of 11 thousand megawatts this year, 12 foreign
companies have submitted investment applications worth US$8.94 billion
with the Capital Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM).
"In the period between January and March 2015, we received applications
for principle licenses on foreign investment (PMA) from 12 companies
with a total value of US$8.94 billion," Deputy Chief of Capital
Investment Planning Affairs of the BKPM, Tamba Hutapea, stated on
Tuesday.
Of
the 12 companies that filed investment applications, three with
investment worth US$1 billion were from Japan; one with investment worth
US$6.26 billion was from China; one with investment worth US$211.6
million was from a Seychelles-based company; five with investment worth
US$444 million were from Singapore; and two worth US$1.02 billion were
from companies jointly owned by several countries.
The
locations of the electricity projects are scattered across various
provinces, such as Aceh, Banten, West Java, East Java, East Kalimantan,
Lampung, Maluku, South Sulawesi, North Sulawesi, and North Sumatra.
"There are 15 locations because two of the 12 companies filed for more than one location," Hutapea explained.
In order to accelerate the development of power projects, state-owned
power utility PLN will call for tenders for the procurement of liquefied
natural gas (LNG) that would expedite the development of plants with a
total generation capacity of 35 thousand megawatts.
PLN's Director for the Procurement of Strategic and Primary Energy
Affairs Amin Subekti noted that his company not only called for a tender
for the construction of power plants but also for the procurement of
gas supply for generators.
"The tenders for the development of power plants and the procurement of
gas are held separately. We have to do everything in our capacity to
achieve the target of generating additional 35 thousand megawatts of
power," Subekti noted.
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(T.A014/INE/o001)
EDITED BY INE
(T.A014/A/BESSR/O. Tamindael) 08-04-2015 14:02 |
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