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Sri Mulyani’s concern on electricity mega projects gets support
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Maritime Affairs Coordinating Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan (tempo.co/File)
M
aritime Affairs Coordinating Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan agrees with Financial Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati that the government needs to revise its electricity projects.
He said the target of 35,000 megawatts by 2019 was projected when the economic growth reached between 6 to 7 percent annually, while the growth up to 2019 was estimated to reach between 5 and 6 annually.
In her letter to Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Ignasius Jonan, Sri Mulyani called for an adjustment of electricity projects due to the weakening financial state of state-owned electricity company PLN. She said the company was burdened by numerous government electricity projects.
Read also: Government needs to revise target of 35,000 MW power projects“We only need adjustments. If the economic growth reaches 7 percent, a 3,500 MW project can be implemented. [With the current growth,] we may need to slow down a bit,” said Luhut, according to Antara, in Bandung, on Wednesday.
In the letter, Sri Mulyani called on the Jonan and State-Owned Enterprises Minister Rini Soemarno to push efficiency within PLN, especially when using a primary energy such as coal.
In response, the ministry’s deputy for energy, logistics, regions and tourism affairs, Edwin Hidayat Abdullah, said PLN has prepared several steps to fulfill its funding obligation through asset re-evaluation, asset productivity enhancement, efficiency in operation cost and goods and service procurements.
Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry spokesperson Kusdiana said that PLN had controlled their spending based on the existing parameters: electricity sales growth, sales volume and renewable energy.
