Electricity returns to most of northern Aceh

Berni K. Moestafa and Fitri Wulandari, The Jakarta Post, Lhokseumawe, Aceh/Jakarta

Life took on a semblance of normalcy in several regencies in Aceh on Monday night after state electricity company PT PLN restored power after an almost two-week blackout, allegedly caused by a rebel attack on transmission towers.

PLN installed two new transmission towers and erected two emergency ones to replace those that collapsed on June 5 in an act of sabotage that authorities suspect was the work of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

The blackout hit much of northern Aceh, covering the regencies of North Aceh, Central Aceh, East Aceh, Bireuen and parts of Pidie.

"Power has returned to normal," the head of the PLN office in the North Aceh city of Lhokseumawe, Sulaiman Daud, said on Tuesday. "We only had to raise the emergency towers, and we did that simultaneously with the work on the new ones."

PLN suffered a daily loss of Rp 240 million (US$30 million) in potential revenue and had to spend another Rp 5 billion to replace the four collapsed towers.

The blackout also hit the Aceh military operation command center in Lhokseumawe, albeit for only a few days as PLN provided a generator for the military.

Many Acehnese, however, had to purchase their own generators, while many others who could not afford them had to make do with lanterns and candles.

Meanwhile in Jakarta, PLN president Eddie Widiono said a barge with a generator mounted on it would soon sail to Aceh from Pontianak, West Kalimantan, to provide an additional 10 megawatts for the provincial capital Banda Aceh.

"Banda Aceh still has a power shortage. The barge is scheduled to leave Pontianak on June 23 and arrive early July in Banda Aceh," Eddie said on Tuesday.

Eddie added that PLN had installed additional power generators in several places as backup, including in Lhokseumawe (10 MW), Banda Aceh (10 MW), Bireuen (3 MW) and Takengon (3 MW).

According to Eddie, the province has a power deficit of 12 MW.

"It makes matters worse when transmission is sabotaged," he said, adding that PLN had set aside Rp 200 billion (US$24 million) to tackle power outages in the province.

He promised that PLN would complete the installation of power transmission lines in the province to overcome the power deficit in the province by February 2004.

"We are working fast to connect power lines all the way to Banda Aceh, even during the war," he said.

The Indonesian Military (TNI) promised to tighten security around PLN infrastructure following the sabotage against the transmission towers.

Sulaiman said the transmission towers were vulnerable to sabotage, warning that another blackout could be forthcoming.

He said that much of northern Aceh received its electricity from North Sumatra's Belawan regency through a network that stretches some 268 kilometers.

"There are over 1,000 towers along that line," he said. It's unlikely that the TNI will commit soldiers to guard every single tower."

Indeed, he said, the legs of three other towers had already been sawed through and could have collapsed on Monday had it not been for locals who reported it to PLN workers repairing the first four towers some five kilometers away.

Sulaiman said PLN relied on reports from the community to protect the transmission lines.

"The safest way is for Lhokseumawe and Banda Aceh to build their own power plants," he said, explaining it would ensure the continued transmission of electricity even if some sections of the network were sabotaged.