House to draft geothermal power bill
House to draft geothermal power bill
A'an Suryana
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
The House of Representatives endorsed on Monday during a
plenary session a plan to draft a law on geothermal power to help
provide legal certainty for investors in the field.
The initiative to draft the law came from the House Commission
VIII on energy and mineral resources. The House rarely utilizes
its initiative right to draft a law.
All nine factions approved the initiative plan.
The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the
biggest fraction in the House, supported the bill as the bill
would serve as a guidance for the government in formulating
policy in the geothermal field.
"So far, we only presidential decree. Therefore, the law on
geothermal power is needed as it could serve as an umbrella law
in the field of geothermal power," Paulus Maria Saul De Ornay
read out his fraction statement before the plenary meeting.
Meanwhile, Golkar Party fraction endorsed the initiative on
the ground that the Geothermal Power Law could endow legal
certainty in the consenting field.
"The legal certainty is important as geothermal power is
considered as a high risk investment for investors," said
Djamaluddin Sahidu, representing his fraction, the second biggest
in the House.
Djamaluddin added that presidential decree often changed so
that it could not assure the certainty of law.
Some 349 out of total 500 DPR members were present in the
plenary meeting.
During the Monday's plenary meeting, the factions underlined
the importance of geothermal power in Indonesia.
Geothermal power was environmentally friendly, and it could
add supply of electricity power amid the threat of power
shortage, legislators said.
They also said that geothermal was of high potential to be
developed in Indonesia.
According to a government data, 40 percent of the world's
geothermal steam resources are located in Indonesia which could
potentially produce some 20,000 Megawatt electricity power.
Following the Monday endorsement, the House Commission VIII
would talk with related government institutions to help in the
drafting of the bill.