Purbaya Urges Makassar City Government to Continue PLTSa Project
Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa has urged the Makassar City Government and the PT Sarana Utama Synergy (PT SUS) consortium to continue the Waste-to-Energy Power Plant (PLTSa) project, which has been stalled due to regulatory issues. He emphasised that President Prabowo Subianto wants the Waste Processing into Electricity Energy (PSEL) project to proceed.
“The important thing is that this must go ahead. The President wants this PSEL to run. The land is already there, why complicate it? If it can be used, just use it. The city government doesn’t need to buy it,” said Purbaya while chairing the debottlenecking session of the Task Force for Accelerating Strategic Government Programmes (P2SP) at the Ministry of Finance office in Central Jakarta, on Thursday, 7 May 2026.
Purbaya requested that the national strategic project continue to be built in Tamalanrea subdistrict by investors from Shanghai SUS Environment together with PT Grand Puri Indonesia in the PT SUS consortium. He also asked that no re-tendering be conducted, as the process is deemed complete.
He directed PT SUS to proceed with the project by referring to Presidential Regulation No. 109 of 2025, with the scheme to be further discussed with the Makassar City Government to align with the latest regulations. Presidential Regulation No. 109/2025 regulates urban waste management through processing waste into renewable energy based on environmentally friendly technology.
Purbaya hopes that using the land already prepared by the investors will not burden the Makassar City Government’s finances. According to him, if the city government has to prepare the land, it would require a time-consuming land acquisition process.
He stated that accelerating the PSEL project is important as part of efforts to create a cleaner urban environment. With the new scheme, payments will no longer use the tipping fee mechanism but through electricity price components, thus not burdening the city government’s budget.
During the session, PT SUS complained that the new Makassar city administration is not fulfilling the previously agreed PLTSa cooperation agreement. The company stated that the project has faced obstacles since 2022.
PT SUS President Director Stephen Yee stated that the project should continue to use the land that has been acquired and is ready for construction, and requested recognition of PT SUS’s position as the legitimate developer based on the signed cooperation agreement and investments already made.
“This project must continue to use the existing land, which we have acquired and is ready for construction,” said Stephen. He conveyed that PT SUS’s position still refers to Presidential Regulation No. 35 of 2018 on accelerating the construction of waste processing installations into electricity energy based on environmentally friendly technology. Because, he said, all cooperation agreements and investment commitments are based on that regulation.
The company stated it is ready to proceed with construction to achieve commercial operation targets if the Makassar City Government consistently uses the old regulation. On the other hand, the Makassar City Government wants the project to be shifted to using Presidential Regulation No. 109 of 2025. PT SUS considers this request unilateral because it is not included in the initial agreement and could not be predicted when the contract was agreed.
PT SUS emphasised that the regulatory transition is not merely an administrative issue but has material impacts on obligations and investment value. Nevertheless, the company is open to following Presidential Regulation No. 109 of 2025 on the condition that renegotiation is carried out to avoid material losses to the previously agreed investments and obligations.