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tate-owned electricity company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) plans to spend Rp 60 trillion (US$5.24 billion) building power-transmission facilities in Sumatra to improve the company'€™s electricity network on the country'€™s largest island.

State-Owned Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan said on Friday that PLN would cooperate with other five state-owned firms, namely PT Wijaya Karya, PT Waskita Karya, PT Hutama Karya, PT Pembangunan Perumahan and PT Adhi Karya, in the project, which is aimed at providing a better electricity supply on Sumatra, which has for years experienced frequent blackouts due to inadequate facilities.

'€œThe funding for the work will come from state-owned banks,'€ Dahlan told reporters after a meeting with a number of state-owned companies on Friday.

He did not say when the project would begin.

A participant in the planned partnership, Adhi Karya, said details of the project have yet to be determined. '€œWe will have further meetings about the project. The idea is how to build transmission from electricity-surplus areas in southern Sumatra to the north,'€ corporate secretary M. Aprindy said.

Details of the scale of the transmission network have not been determined either. '€œThe work can be allocated per section or all done by a consortium,'€ Aprindy said.

The country had a total of 47,128 megawatts (MW) of electricity-generation capacity as of the end of 2013. The electrification ratio amounted to around 80 percent at the end of last year.

PLN'€™s operations director for Java, Bali and Sumatra IGN Adnyana said the Medan area in North Sumatra still suffered electricity-supply shortages.

He said the demand for electricity in the area during peak hours amounted to 1,700 MW while the supply was only 1,450 MW.

'€œCurrently a number of power plants are under construction in Palembang [South Sumatra], which will be completed by 2016. When the plants are completed, the transmission network will help the north of the island. The transmission network will be a long-term plan,'€ he said over the telephone.

He added that PLN had been trying to meet electricity demand in the North Sumatra area, including by using more diesel power generators. The company has provided an additional 150 MW from the generators, but this is already included in the total current supply of 1,450 MW.

'€œWe will try to normalize power plants, whose operations have been disrupted, while expecting that new power plants, such as at Pangkalan Susu and Nagan Raya, will be ready for operations this year to help supply Sumatra,'€ Adnyana said.

PLN'€™s director for construction Nasri Sebayang had said earlier that the company was looking at 25 projects under the first fast-track program (FTP-1) with a total capacity of 3,539 MW to be completed this year.

Apart from encouraging the completion of power-plant construction, the government is also paying more attention to the development of power generated by renewable energy.

The move is aimed at reducing the country'€™s dependency on fossil fuels. Currently, most electricity in the country is produced by diesel- and coal-fired power plants.