Task force asks government to revoke decree on power project delay
Wednesday, February 6 2002 - 02:36 AM WIB
The papers quoted director general of power and energy utilization at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Luluk Sumiarso as saying Tuesday that the revocation of the presidential decree would make the current negotiations between the task force and the IPPs smooth.
Furthermore, he said, the revocation of the decree would allow the IPPs to continue their power projects amid the increasing worries that Indonesia would lack power supplies in several years.
The decree was issued by the government in September 1997 as part of the belt tightening efforts by the government to cope with the monetary crisis, which hit the country in the middle of 1997.
Under the decree, the government postponed several IPP projects, including the Palembang Timur project, the West Java (Cilegon) project, the Pasuruan project, the Cilacap project, the Serang project, the Salak project, the Sarulla project, the Karaha project, the Sibayak project, the Patuha 2, 3, 4 project, the Dieng 4 project and the Bedugul 3, 4 project.
The decree also put several other IPP projects ?under review status?, including the Pare-Pare project, the Asahan I project, the Tanjung Jati A project, the Wayang Windu project and the Tanjung Jati C project and the Patuha 1 project, the Dieng 1, 2, 3 project and the Bedugul 1, 2 project.
Early in 1998, the government however issued another presidential decree to allow some of the IPPs to continue the ?reviewed? and ?postponed? projects, including the Salak, Wayang Windu, Pare Pare and Dieng 1, 2, 3 projects.
The projects are owned by big multinational companies, including energy firm Unocal Corp (Salak, Sarulla), Enron (Pasuruan), CalEnergy (Dieng, Patuha and Bedugul). (*)