TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
After 35 years, Raja Ampat villagers get 12-hour electricity
Thanks to PLN-supplied electricity, inhabitants of a backwater village in West Papua no longer need to travel a long way to buy diesel.
Change Size
PLN started its service in Harapan Jaya and four other villages on Misool Island on Tuesday. (Shutterstock/-)
A
fter 35 years of waiting, residents of Harapan Jaya village in Misool district, Raja Ampat regency, West Papua, can finally use electricity provided by state-owned power provider PLN.
Residents on the island had relied on their own generator sets for decades--during which they had to spend up to seven hours on a speedboat to buy fuel in the regency's trade hub of Waisai on Waigeo Island.
"Electricity provided by PLN has helped residents with their daily activities, as some of them don't own generator sets," Harapan Jaya village head Ali Sapua said on Thursday, as quoted by kompas.com.
Raja Ampat is known the world over for its natural beauty, especially the beaches and the sea. The regency comprises of hundreds of islands, mostly uninhabited. Misool Island is one of large islands in the regency.
He added that, with PLN-provided electricity, residents could cut their living costs.
PLN started its service in Harapan Jaya and four other villages in Misool: Fafanlap, Yellu, Gamta and Magey on Tuesday. To supply electricity to the five villages, the company operates four diesel-fueled power plants with a capacity of up to 240 kilowatts.
A total of 373 customers from the villages have access to the electricity for 12 hours, from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.
The manager of PLN’s customer service unit in Sorong, Albert Safaria, said the company was planning to serve more villages.
The company currently serves 23 of 117 villages in Raja Ampat regency. (ars)
