Govt urges private power suppliers to support smelter industry

By Tri Subhki R

Director General of Mineral and Coal at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resource (MEMR) R. Sukhyar urged private power suppliers to support the development of smelter industry in Indonesia.

"Smelter requires huge power supply. State-owned utility PT PLN (Persero) should not bear the burden alone, but private energy suppliers should support the smelter development," he said in Jakarta on Wednesday.

Investors have complained about the lack of infrastructure facilities,particularly power supply, in developing the smelters. Power supply and security are essential in smelting processes.

The government has banned the export of mineral ores since January 12 of this year in a bid to generate greater value from the mineral commodities for the country by forcing miners to build domestic smelters.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak