Power crisis still plagues SE Sulawesi

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Southeast Sulawesi provincial government has allocated Rp 20 billion (US$2.5 million) of its 2004 budget to purchase 5 Megawatt (MW) diesel power generators.

The procurement aims to solve the electricity crisis still plaguing the province, said Aminuddin Arief, head of the Southeast Sulawesi Mines and Energy office in Kendari.

However, Aminuddin acknowledged that the purchase would not resolve the problem completely, as the generator could only provide electricity for 5,000 customers, while 10,000 customers were currently on the waiting list.

"The number of people in the province who do not enjoy electricity services is much, much bigger," he said.

The first 5 MW diesel generator has partly been installed at state electricity company PT PLN's Kendari office.

Aminuddin said the provincial government and PT PLN had come to an agreement on the purchase of the generator.

Under the agreement, PT PLN is to buy power from the provincial government at a price set by the two parties.

In return, PT PLN is to distribute the power to the public.

Aminuddin admitted that both the provincial government and PT PLN might suffer from losses, as the operation costs of a power plant was generally greater than the income made from electrical power sales.

He added that the Southeast Sulawesi government needed an additional Rp 20 billion to procure another 5- to 10 MW diesel generator to meet the demands of the remaining 5,000 customers.

According to Aminuddin, many regencies are in dire need of power, especially villages, as PLN currently supplies power to only 62 percent of villages in Southeast Sulawesi.

In several cases, while high-voltage electricity cables have been installed in the area, villagers do not yet receive electricity due to the lack of low-voltage cables.

"Villagers often say that electricity in Southeast Sulawesi are not supplied to villages, but only pass by them," he said, as quoted by Antara.

He said the scarcity of electricity had long been a problem in Southeast Sulawesi, but the central government had made only a cursory effort to resolve the matter.