PLN asks government to continue Musi power project
Thursday, February 1 2001 - 04:30 AM WIB
State electricity company PLN's president Kuntoro Mangkusubroto has asked the government to continue the construction of a hydro power plant in Musi river, South Sumatera to cope with the acute shortage of power supply in the region, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Thursday.
Kuntoro said that the construction of the Musi power project, which was stopped in 1998 as part of the government's retrenchment program to cope with the country's economic crisis, was vital so as not to worsen the electricity supply in southern Sumatra.
He said that southern Sumatera, which also includes Jambi, Bengkulu and Lampung provinces is among 25 regions in the country which have been considered of having most critical problem in the power supply.
According to Kuntoro, the government needs an additional investment of US$70 million to continue the project. He said that the formal request to continue the project had been submitted to the government and "We are now still waiting for the response."
He said that without the help of the government, the electricity company which is now still under financial distress faced difficulties to continue the power project.
PLN booked financial loss of about Rp 22.55 trillion in 2000, including the loan repayment of about Rp 12.46 trillion. (*)