PLN awaiting government funds for completing Tanjung Jati B power project

The Ministry of Finance has not given green lights to provide state electricity firm PLN with funds which, together with loans from Japan Bank for International Corporation (JBIC), will be used for completing the construction of Tanjung Jati B power project in Jepara, Central Java, Neraca daily reported on Monday.

PLN?s financial director Parno Isworo was quoted as saying that JBIC, which had pledged the greatest portion of the funds required for the Tanjung Jati B project, would disburse its loans only after the Indonesian government had provided the funds it had pledged for the project. This was stipulated in the agreement between JBIC and the Indonesian government.

?The key is now in the hands of the Ministry of Finance. If it provides the liquidity facility, the Tanjung Jati B project will be able to be completed. Let?s just wait and see,? Parno said.

The Tanjung Jati B facility had been planned to generate up to 1,230 Megawatts of electricity. It is one of the country?s large-scale power projects which were delayed due to the government?s retrenchment program to cope with the economic crisis which hit Indonesia late in 1997.

Parno said demand for electricity would significantly increase after 2004, and that the Tanjung Jati B project needed to be completed before that year. The project would contribute big enough electricity supply to the Java-Bali interconnection system, he said.

Meanwhile, Coordinating Minister for the Economy Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti said the Tanjung Jati B power plant would start operation before 2005 so that people needed not worry so much about possible power crisis in a couple of years.

Dorodjatun said people should worry more about power theft on large scales, saying the authorities must take harsh measures against any parties involved in such practices. (*)