Prabowo Orders Bahlil to Resolve Power Outages in Kalimantan
President of the Republic of Indonesia Prabowo Subianto has personally intervened to address the electricity outages still occurring in several areas of Kalimantan.
In a meeting at the Presidential Palace, Prabowo instructed the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM), Bahlil Lahadalia, to take immediate concrete steps together with PT PLN (Persero) to end the power supply disruptions that have drawn public complaints.
“We have just finished a limited meeting with the President. Among the issues discussed was the matter of PLN — the electricity problems which, we must admit, still include outages at several points in some regions, particularly in Kalimantan,” Bahlil told reporters at the Presidential Palace complex in Central Jakarta on Tuesday, 4 August 2026.
Bahlil said President Prabowo asked the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, together with PLN, to promptly draw up measurable steps so that the problem could be resolved as quickly as possible.
“That is why the President has ordered me to immediately take measurable steps with PLN so that this can be resolved properly,” he said.
The power supply disruptions in South Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan were previously triggered by a number of main power plants being simultaneously out of service for maintenance.
General Manager of PLN’s Kalselteng Main Distribution Unit, Iwan Soelistijno, explained that one of the causes came from the SLK Gunung Mas coal-fired power plant in Central Kalimantan.
Of the plant’s two generating units, each with a capacity of 100 megawatts (MW), one unit is still experiencing problems and is targeted to return to operation on 5 August 2026.
Meanwhile, the Tanjung Power Indonesia (TPI) coal-fired plant in Tabalong has restored its 100 MW Unit 2 to operation since 28 July 2026, ahead of the original target.
At the Asam-Asam coal-fired plant in South Kalimantan, recovery work is still ongoing. Unit 3, with a capacity of 54 MW, remains under repair, while Unit 2 has also yet to return to operation.
Governor of South Kalimantan Muhidin said he was optimistic that rotating blackouts could be stopped from 5 August 2026 onwards, as additional generating capacity comes back into the system.
“God willing, from early August there will be no more outages, but we remain on standby,” Muhidin said.
Nevertheless, he estimated that the electricity system in South Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan would only fully recover once all repair work at the Asam-Asam plant is completed at the end of August 2026.