President Jokowi Allows 34 Halted Power Plant Projects to be Resumed

President Jokowi when inaugurating Parit Baru Gas-fired Mobile Power Plant (PLTG MPP) with capacity of 4 X 25MW, on Saturday (18/3) afternoon, at Mempawah Regency, West Kalimantan

President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo has given a green light for the construction of 34 power plants, which have been halted, to be resumed on condition that the legal process should have been settled and the projects must be conducted in accordance with what the Government has decided.

“Regarding the construction of 34 power plants which have been halted, I want them to be resumed. However, the legal process should have been settled first and, it should be based on the quality that we want,” President Jokowi said in a remarks at the Inauguration of Parit Baru Gas-fired Mobile Power Plant (PLTG MPP) with capacity of 4 X 25MW, on Saturday (18/3) afternoon, at Mempawah Regency, West Kalimantan.

The President asserted that he does not want the power plants to only meet 30 or 40 percent of their capacity; thus, he reminded the stakeholders that he has the power to check them.

“Do not play with technical and details matters. I surely will check them because it concerns trillions of rupiah,” President Jokowi added.

The President assumed that the budget allocated to fund the construction of those 34 power plants all over Indonesia is huge. Therefore, the President allowed the projects to be resumed as long as the legal process is implemented.

The President also warned those in charge of the projects to work properly so that the power plants will meet their maximum capacity.

“Do not carry on the project only to cover up some issues. I do not want it,” the President said adding that people used to only repaint the power plants or bought old turbines.

“Do not think that I didn’t know it. I knew it because I pay attention to details in my job,” the President added.

Nevertheless, although President Jokowi allowed the construction of those power plants to be resumed due to huge amount of budget for the projects, the President warned all to take the task seriously.

“Otherwise, we will face two legal issues later. I am very strict on such things,” the President reminded.

For that reason, President Jokowi hopes that the projects will be carried on for good reason once the legal process is settled.

“Because the budget allocated for this project is taken from the State-Owned Electricity Company PT PLN, I don’t tolerate mess at all,” the President warned.

Previously in his remarks, President Jokowi said that during the groundbreaking of Parit Baru PLTG MPP in Mempawah Regency six months ago, he asked the Managing Director of PLN about time needed to finish the project, and the Director answered that it takes six months.

“And apparently it has been finished. Aside from Parit Baru Power Plant in Mempawah, there are eight power plants spread over Lombok, Bangka, Lampung, Nias, Pontianak, Riau, Belitung, and Medan which the constructions were started at around the same time as Parit Baru. Alhamdulillah, those power plants are finished and generated 500 Megawatt,” the President said.

According to the President, considering that all provinces, cities, and regencies have the same complaints about electricity shortage and outage, the President personally wants that those gas-fired power plants to be constructed immediately. Therefore, an Mobile Power Plant (MPP) is chosen because the construction can be finished in short time.

“Unlike coal-fired power plant which takes 4.5 to 5 years to finish, an MPP can be done quickly,” the President added.

On that occasion, President Jokowi noted that an MPP could be mobile from one to other island or areas which need electricity.

“As Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Ignasius Jonan said, if this area has other electricity supplies or sources, and once the area has abundant electricity, the MPP will be moved to other islands which still need electricity because this is MPP, it can be moved,” the President concluded.

The inauguration of Parit Baru PLTG MPP was also attended by First Lady Ibu Iriana Joko Widodo, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Ignasius Jonan, Minister of State-Owned Enterprises Rini Soemarno, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung, Minister of Public Works and Public Housing Basuki Hadimuljono, Managing Director of PLN Sofyan Basyir, and Governor of West Kalimantan Cornelis. (FID/DNA/ES)(RA/EP/YM/Naster)