Many residents have no access to power

PALEMBANG, South Sumatra: More than half of South Sumatra's residents have no access to electricity, due to the remote locations of their homes, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

Of 1.1 million households in South Sumatra, 60 percent have no access to electricity, said chief of the South Sumatra administration's Village Electricity Program Zahirsyah.

Many areas of the province are mountainous, causing state electricity company PT PLN difficulties in setting up its network there, said Zahirsyah. -- JP