PLN to Resume Work on 17 Stalled Power Projects

Jakarta (Antara Bali) - Indonesias state power firm PT PLN (Persero) would resume work at 17 of the 34 power plant development projects that have remained stalled for the last seven to eight years, its president director, Sofyan Basir, has said.

The decision to resume the work was taken after the company evaluated all the projects in terms of location, audit and recalculation by experts.

"We will terminate some projects which do not have any possible solution, and resume 17 projects. Some projects involve legal and financial issues and we have to observe these locations one by one," Sofyan stated here on Friday.

The power plants was undertaken based on the Presidential Decree 4/2016 to expedite power infrastructure development by taking into account cost and benefit.

While budget for the projects would come from state-run companies and private firms that had won the bids, some of it would be covered by PLN.

"There are some state-owned companies. We will work in cooperation with them as also with PLNs subsidiaries to find solutions (to the issue of funding). The aim is not to earn profit but how to curb potential losses to minimum," he pointed out.

He expected that the PLN would need some Rp1 trillion (US$76 million) for the 17 power plant projects.

Previously, Sofyan had said the company could not resume development work on 12 of its 34 stalled power plant projects.

Work on project development was halted due to factors such as inaccurate planning or land. In some cases, land was unsuitable as it was either peat land or sites were too remote.

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) disclosed that he would lodge a complaint with the Commission for Corruption Eradication (KPK) against executors of the projects, especially those which could not be resumed.

"Trillions of rupiahs worth of funds were involved, and it should not be allowed to happen anymore. I can see that one or two projects could not be continued because everything was already rusted. There has to be certainty about these projects," the president stressed. (WDY)