BKPM says licensing procedure no longer a problem in power projects
Thursday, February 25 2016 - 01:04 AM WIB
In a bid to help convince would-be investors and financiers in the country?s power plant projects, the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) reiterated that licensing procedure for investment in the sector is no longer a problem.
Lestari Indah, Deputy Chairwoman of BKPM, told Petromindo.com on Wednesday that licensing procedure has been streamlined and accelerated following the introduction of the one-stop integrated services (better known as PTSP) at BKPM, cutting down significantly the number of licenses and days to obtain them to start power plant project.
?I can promise that in terms of licensing, both principle permit and others, there?s no more problem,? she said. ?If there?s problem, I think it?s a case by case thing.?
She was responding to a report in this portal on Wednesday quoting Dharma Djojonegoro, Head of the Electricity and Coal Committee at the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), as saying that permit issues, in addition to lack of transmission facilities and a central bank regulation requiring the use of rupiah in domestic transaction, has been perceived by foreign banks as lingering obstacles in financing power plant projects in Indonesia.
Dharma said that there are currently around 50 independent power producers that have yet to be able to reach financial close for their proposed power plant projects due to the aforementioned problems.
In a bid to help accelerate the government?s ambitious program of developing a total of 35,000 MW power plant projects in five years until 2019, BKPM introduced last year the PTSP, streamlining licensing procedure for power plant projects as relevant authorities such as the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources transferred its licensing authority to the board.
BKPM Chairman Franky Sibarani said previously that the number of licenses required for power project has been cut down to 25 with only up to 256 business days to complete. In comparison, the number of licenses required previously was 49, and needed about 923 days to complete.
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak