Jonan sets ministry?s priorities
Monday, October 17 2016 - 02:55 PM WIB
Newly-appointed Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Ignasius Jonan said on Monday that the ministry?s top priority in the power sector would be to realize President Joko Widodo?s ambition of developing a combined 35,000 MW power plants over a five-year period until 2019.
?Our priority program in the electricity sector is the 35,000 MW program and electrification ratio of 90.15 percent in 2016,? he said in a statement, but did not provide further details. There has been concerns that the 35,000 MW power plant projects may not be entirely realized by 2019 due to a number of problems including land acquisition, funding issue, and bureaucratic hurdles.
The 53-year old minister, who was dismissed from his post as minister of transportation in July during a second round cabinet reshuffle, said that in the oil and gas sector, the ministry?s top priority would be technology development and a ?fair? cost recovery system.
The former CEO of state-owned railway firm PT Kereta Api Indonesia (JAI) said that in the mining sector, his top priority would be on the issues of mineral concentrates export, domestic smelter development, and export tax.
President Joko Widodo on Friday surprisingly installed Jonan as the new Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, and former energy and mineral resources minister Arcandra Tahar as the Vice Minister.
Singapore-born Ignatius Jonan studied economics at Surabaya?s Airlangga University and management at Tufts University in the US.
Meanwhile, Arcandra was first appointed into the cabinet as minister of energy and mineral resources on August 15, but was dismissed by the President 20 days later following dual US citizenship scandal. The Ministry of Human Rights and Justice granted 46-year old Arcandra an Indonesian citizenship status on September 1.
Born in West Sumatra, Arcandra studied at Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) before obtaining a PhD degree in ocean engineering from the University in Texas. He lived in the US for 20 years and worked as a consultant at several international companies in the US.
Meanwhile, former minister of energy and mineral resources Sudirman Said welcomes the appointment of Ignasius as the minister, saying it will provide a sense of certainty for the players in the energy and mining industries. ?Almost all companies in the energy sector are long-term players, who require stability. Hopefully, the appointment of Pak Jonan as a definitive minister will provide a message of stability to the industry players, so that there will be certainty. All investments which have been put on hold can now be realized,? Sudirman said.
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak