Local equipment suppliers cause power inefficiency

Local equipment suppliers cause power inefficiency

JAKARTA (JP): The erratic supply of domestic equipment and
engineering services forces the state electricity company, PT
PLN, to spend huge amounts to import the goods necessary for its
projects.

"Such a situation has caused PLN, which has been assigned to
establish new power plants with a total capacity of around 9,500
megawatts (MW) in the next five years, to be inefficient,"
Rahardi Ramelan, vice chairman of the National Development
Planning Board (Bappenas), said at a three-day workshop on energy
at the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology
(BPPT) here yesterday.

Data at the Central Bureau of Statistics indicates that
imports of electrical equipment and services reached US$12.16
billion last year, as compared to $11.70 billion in 1992 and
$11.63 billion in 1991.

The report said the imports included steel products,
platforms, boilers, basic chemicals, copper, aluminum products
and electronics equipment.

"If the domestic industry cannot anticipate the demand, PLN
will become more inefficient," Rahardi said.

It is time for the country's engineering industry to produce
such supporting products, whose raw materials are actually
available in Indonesia, he said.

He expressed concern that the Indonesian engineering industry
is still functioning as assembler of foreign products, instead of
becoming a producer.

To improve the domestic engineering industry, Rahardi proposed
that the industry's executives actively promote exchanges of
know-how, transfer of technology and improve human resources.

Distribution

Rahardi said that the engineering industry should start now
with products for supporting PLN's distribution and transmission
networks.

He suggested that the engineering industry assign a team to
determine which components, facilities and services should be
prepared by the domestic industry.

Kodiat Samadikun, PLN's director for development, said that
PLN welcomes the establishment of such a team, which will in turn
reduce PLN's reliance on imports of power facilities.

"Thus far, contractors are required to procure no less than 25
percent of all components from domestic suppliers," he told The
Jakarta Post after presenting his paper at yesterday's workshop.

Besides the generation plants, PLN also plans to set up 25,938
kilometers of transmission facilities, including main stations
with a total capacity of 57,047 megavolt amperes (MVA), 277,614
kilometers of middle-high voltage cables and distribution sub-
stations with a total capacity of 45,203 MVA. (fhp)