Clean electricity helps rural community
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Two workers, Ian Sofian, 30, and Ase Muslihat, 35, work alternate 12-hour shifts in the turbine room controlling a mini hydro-power plant that supports the community at Cinta Mekar Village, Subang regency, West Java.
"The operation of this facility supports our community in the village in terms of providing access to electricity, social services, sustainable income as well as schooling for the children of the poorer members of the community," said Ian.
The 2x60 KwH power plant was established in 2004 by a company called Hidropiranti Inti Bakti Swadaya (HIBS) under a pro-poor public private partnership project, supported by state-owned electricity company PLN, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, a non-governmental organization called the Institute of Business and Economy for the Populace (IBEKA), and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (Unescap).
Under the partnership program, HIBS sells power to the public via PLN. Part of the profit from the electricity charges would go back to the local community to finance various other projects.
The success of the project has prompted IBEKA and HIBS officials to seek additional outside funds to help finance the construction of a local training center, which will help empower the local community.
The executive secretary of Unescap, Kim Hak-Su, visited Cinta Mekar Village on Monday to lay the foundation stone for the first Pro-Poor Public Private Partnership (5P) Resource and Training Center in the world.
"The model, developed and tested in Cinta Mekar, has already positioned itself as a success cases for further replication in Indonesia and elsewhere in the region," Kim said.
Tri Mumpuni Iskandar, the director of IBEKA, said that the training center would empower the community by accommodating the needs of the populace.
"As a facilitator, I hope that our activities to raise funds together with the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources will result in the construction of the training center within the next two years," Mumpuni told The Jakarta Post.
"We have routinely been providing guidance to the villagers by supporting their small enterprises," she said.
She said that her organization had helped the villagers create attractive packaging for their cassava chips by putting the Cinta Mekar logo on it.
She said that her organization has helped the children of the community get better schooling. The organization has also donated funds to the poor using part of the profit from the mini hydro- power plant.
According to Mumpuni, the power plant generates a gross monthly income of nearly US$2,970. The revenue is shared equally between the community and HIBS after taxes, operation costs and maintenance costs are deducted.
The net profit, totaling US$1,088, will be allocated to such endeavors as electricity for the poor, education, health and co- operative development.
She said that mini hydro-power plants are clean and renewable sources of electricity that are friendly to the environment.
"The hydro-power plant does not consume fuel and it will not produce pollution," she said. (004)