PLN to get $1.08b in equity for electrification

JAKARTA (JP): The government will provide state electric firm PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) with Rp 2.49 trillion (US$1.08 billion) worth of equity participation for the 1997/1998 fiscal year, for power distribution and village electrification.

Minister of Mines and Energy I.B. Sudjana told a hearing with legislators last week that apart from PLN, the only other state firm overseen by the ministry which would receive government equity participation in the coming fiscal year (1997/1998) was PT Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN).

PGN, he said, would receive Rp 25.2 billion in government equity participation, up from an estimated Rp 18.69 billion this fiscal year.

The ministry oversees seven state enterprises: Pertamina, PLN, PT Timah, PT Aneka Tambang, PT Bukit Asam, PGN and PT Koneba.

In the previous fiscal year (1995/1996), PLN received Rp 2.65 trillion in government equity participation and in the current fiscal year (1996/1997), it is estimated to get Rp 2.53 trillion.

Sudjana said that as of last month, the only state enterprise supervised by the ministry which had never received government equity participation was the oil company Pertamina.

PLN had so far received a total of Rp 23.72 trillion in government equity participation; Timah, Rp 161.6 billion; Aneka Tambang, Rp 436 million; Bukit Asam, Rp 758.58 billion; PGN, Rp 112.67 billion; and Koneba, Rp 5.6 billion.

Sudjana said the huge funds to be allocated for PLN would be used to develop transmission lines, electrical relay stations and village electrification programs.

Sudjana said that from a total of 61,975 villages in Indonesia, 42,101 or 68 percent had access to electricity as of December 1996.

The province with the highest percentage of villages with electricity was North Sulawesi, where 98 percent of its 1,217 villages had access to electricity, and the lowest was West Kalimantan, with only 21 percent of its 4,633 villages having electricity.

The government's draft budget for 1997/1998 states that a large proportion of the ministry's budget, which totaled Rp 4.4 trillion, would be allocated to the energy subsector.

This subsector, consisting mostly of electric energy, would get Rp 4.36 trillion from the ministry's total budget.

PLN's consolidated assets in 1995/1996 reached Rp 43.95 trillion, the highest among the ministry's state enterprises.

However, its sales were recorded at Rp 8.11 trillion, lower than that of Pertamina, which reached Rp 24.5 trillion that year.

PLN's debt in 1995/1996 was recorded at Rp 17.48 trillion and its pretax profits at Rp 1.02 trillion.

PLN has two subsidiaries, PT Pembangkitan Listrik Jawa-Bali (PJB) I and II, which are now preparing to go public.

They are expected to float their shares on the domestic stock exchanges early next year.

PJB I, established by PLN late-1995 as part of its privatization program, manages the Suralaya coal-fired plant and the Saguling hydro-power plant, both in West Java, the Tambak Lorok steam-power plant in Semarang and steam and gas-power plants in Bali.

PJB II manages PLN's other power plants, including the Paiton coal-fired power plant, the Karangkates hydro-power plant, the Gresik steam-power station, the Grati steam-power plant, all in East Java, and the Cirata hydro-power plant in West Java.

According to the ministry's data, PJB I managed to reap Rp 107.39 billion in operational profits and Rp 93.29 billion in net profits as of December 1995 period.

Meanwhile, PJB II gained Rp 96.48 billion in operational profits and Rp 76.93 in net profits in the same period.

For the January to September 1996 period, PJB I's operational profits reached Rp 335.66 billion and its net profits were recorded at Rp 297.03 billion.

During this period, PJB II gained Rp 288.55 billion in operational profits and Rp 235.44 in net profits. (pwn)