Government plans incentives for geothermal development

The government is planning to provide incentives for investors developing the geothermal sector, Kontan reported on Tuesday.

Freddy Saragih, a senior official at the Ministry of Finance, said that the ministry is expected to complete the ongoing revision of the Finance Ministry Regulation No77/2011.

He said that once the revision is completed, there will be incentives for geothermal investors including tax break facility and import duty exemption on equipments imported for the geothermal exploration activities.

The revision also touches on the issue of government guarantee, said Djajang Sukarna, Secretary General of the Directorate General of Energy for Conservation and Renewable Energy. He said that while the existing ministry of finance rule stipulates government guarantee on the downstream side of the geothermal investment, the revision discusses the possibility of government guarantee on the upstream side as requested by investors, who have to spend huge amount of investment for geothermal exploration. (*)