Minister launches ?Indonesia Bright Program?
Thursday, April 21 2016 - 02:22 PM WIB
The program was nationally launched at Temel Sosian, a remote village in Ayamaru Jaya district, Maybrat regency, West Papua province, the ministry said in a statement.
The Indonesia Bright Program, which is part of the government?s 35,000 MW program, relies on renewable energy for the provision of power for people in those areas. It is also part of the efforts to increase the national electrification ratio to 97 percent in 2019 from 85 percent at present. The types of power plants that will be built under the program are solar farm (PLTS), micro hydropower systems (PLTMH) with a combined capacity of 9.4 MW. Budget for the project amount to Rp 441 billion.
?The budget may look small, but is very significant for the efforts to provide power to eastern Indonesia. Besides, it will drive investment,? Sudirman said.
At present, according to the ministry?s data, there are 12,659 villages across the country, or 16 percent of the nation?s total villages, categorized as underdeveloped which until now still have no access to the power network of public utility PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (Persero) (PLN). The Indonesia Bright Program is targeted for these villages. The villages are home to a total of 2,527,469 families or 9,970,286 people. With a total budget of around Rp 80 trillion planned for the project, it is expected that 10,300 villages will have received electricity by 2019, the ministry said.
The implementation of Indonesia Bright Program will start in six provinces in eastern Indonesia with 2016 budgets as follows:
| No | Provinces | Total capacity (Megawatt) | Budget (Rp billion) |
| 1 | Papua | 5.4 | 198.9 |
| 2 | West Papua | 3.3 | 91.8 |
| 3 | Maluku | 0.3 | 42.8 |
| 4 | North Maluku | 0.1 | 11.1 |
| 5 | East Nusa Tenggara | 1.1 | 77.2 |
| 6 | West Nusa Tenggara | 0.3 | 19.2 |
In Papua and West Papua provinces, there are still 18 regencies which have access at all to PLN?s service. They are Pegunungan Bintang, Tolikara, Yahukimo, Puncak Jaya, Lanny Jaya, Mamberamo Raya, Mamberamo Tengah, Puncak, Nduga, Intan Jaya, Yalimo, Supiori, Paniai, Dogiyai, Deiyai, Teluk Wondama, Tambraw, dan Maybrat.
The Indonesia Bright Program will be carried out through an ?inclusive, affordable, gradual and accountable? strategy. ?Inclusive? means all parties will be involved in planning, execution and supervision. ?Affordable? means the power tariff should be affordable to the local people. ?Gradual? means the implementation of the program will be carried out gradually, starting from the eastern regions of the country and moving to the western part of the country. ?Accountable? means the audit and evaluation of the program?s impact will be entrusted to credible third parties.
The participation of private sector in the program is welcome. Private companies may cooperate with the central or local governments, state owned firms, either owned by the central or local governments, or firms owned by villages, the ministry said.
Editing by Johannes Simbolon