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Jokowi sticks to 35,000 MW electricity generation plans
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo stated on Wednesday that he would not revise the government's target to build power plants that produce up to 35,000 Megawatts (MW) of electricity
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resident Joko "Jokowi" Widodo stated on Wednesday that he would not revise the government's target to build power plants that produce up to 35,000 Megawatts (MW) of electricity.
According to Jokowi, ministers should work on finding the solution so that the government can achieve that target.
Jokowi added that many parties consider the target to be ambitious. Thus, he told others that no obstacles should thwart the project, including land acquisition problems that often came up.
"That is why, if there are issues in the field, then find the solution so that investors can carry out their investments. That is the tasks for ministers, for the coordinating minister to find the solution. [That is the] way out for all of the problems encountered by investors," said Jokowi on Wednesday as quoted by kompas.com.
Jokowi said the tasks for ministers include following up on the progress of the project's physical construction, checking up on land permits, and creating check lists so that the development can run on schedule.
"That is the task of ministers. If they want an easier target, then let's do 5,000 [MW] instead, which we could definitely achieve. But, that is not what I want," said Jokowi.
On Aug. 13, Coordinating Maritime and Resources Affairs Minister Rizal Ramli said that achieving the target of 35,000 MW worth of electricity generation by 2019 would be difficult and that the government still had to complete the construction of power plants that would produce 7,000 MW left over from former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's big energy plans.
On Monday, members of the presidential communications team Teten Masduki said that the President had warned Rizal by phone not to spread criticism regarding government policies in public. (kes)(++++)
