South Kalimantan needs new investment in electricity

The South Kalimantan provincial administrating must find ways to attract news investments in the province?s electricity sector as power demand will soon overtake supply, according to a senior official of the local unit of the state-owned electricity firm PLN.

The local Banjarmasin Post daily quoted Zainal Abidin, head of the local office of PLN, as saying that power utilization from industry and households during peak hours was projected to already surpass supply starting next year.

He said that currently, power supply produced by four power plants in the province only totaled 230 MW, while power consumption during peak hours had already reached 215 MW.

?As demand growth each year is around 10 percent, Some 236 MW of capacity must be available next year,? he said.

The new law on electricity allows private investors to build their own power plants as PLN is no longer a monopoly in the sector.

Zaenal welcomes a recent report saying that a Thailand investor had expressed interest to invest in the local power sector. But he expected the plan could be truly realized, saying that many investors had previously expressed similar plans but they never keep their promises.

He pointed out as an example that Taufik Kiemas, the husband of President Megawati Soekarnoputri, had promised to develop a 2x50 MW power plant in the Hulu Sungai Utara area with investors from China, but until the plan had never been realized.

He said that because of the limited power supply in the province, some areas have to suffer routine blackout problem at their houses. (*)