Govt yet to decide on fate of suspended power projects: Official

The government has yet to decide on the proposal to annul the 1997 presidential decree, which suspended the development of several power projects, according to a senior official.

Ratna Djuwita Wahab, a deputy at the office of the coordinating minister for the economy, was quoted by Tempo daily as saying that the government wanted to see that all problems relating the projects had been resolved first before annulling the presidential decree.

A special government team in charge of restructuring and rehabilitating the state-owned electricity firm PLN, led by Coordinating Minister for the Economy Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Tjakti, has been reportedly to consider annulling the presidential decree to allow the resumption of the development of the power projects.

The government suspended the power projects in the wake of the 1997 financial crisis. Since then the government has been trying to renegotiate power purchase terms including power price with the independent power producers (IPPs).

The continuation of the power projects are seen as crucial because Indonesia is projected to suffer power crisis in 2004 without new power supply.(*)