Govt to cancel electricity projects worth up to Rp 28.2 trillion

The government is considering to cancel electricity projects worth up to Rp 28.2 trillion as part of its plan to cut down the country's foreign debts, Investor Daily reported on Monday.

The consideration is based on the latest evaluation made by the national development planning board (Bappenas). The "blue book" on the retrenchment of the electricity projects will be signed by State Minister for National Development Planning Paskah Suzetta and Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati on Tuesday.

The projects to be cancelled are part of the US$30.07 billion projects proposed by PLN in order to support the government's target to achieve economic growth of between 6 and 7 percent this year.

Minister Paskah said that a number of transportation projects had been also cancelled in addition to the electricity projects. "The cancellation is based on the principle of priorities, prudent and the readiness," he said.

According to PLN's spokesman the cancellation was made only to electricity projects which were still under feasibility study. "The projects which are still in stage of early preparation have been taken out from the list," he added. He assured that the projects which had been well prepared such as the construction of Cilacap, Cilegon and Tanjung Jati B power plants which would produce power supply of up to 2,660 MW would be continued.

According to him, the plan to increase the capacity of Muara Tawar, Muara Karang and Tanjung Priok would not also be affected by the cancellation. These projects would be carried out according to the existing schedules, he said. (*)