State-owned electricity company PLN, the plant’s off-taker, said on Wednesday the new facility, which took nearly two years to build, would raise Mimika’s installed power production capacity from 24.5 MW to 34.5 MW.

“Other than to electrify local communities and boost economic growth, this plant is initially planned to support the National Games,” said PLN Papua, Sulawesi, Maluku and Nusa Tenggara regional director Syamsul Huda.

PLN, he continued, would develop infrastructure as planned even though the games, initially scheduled for 2020, have been postponed to 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He did not elaborate on the potential market for the plant’s electricity after the games.

The Timika plant is among six new gas-fired power plants that have been developed by PLN to power the PON. The six have a combined capacity of 115MW, the largest among which is the 40MW Jayapura peaker in the provincial capital.

Decades of neglect have left Papua as Indonesia’s most poverty-stricken province, despite hosting the world’s largest gold mine, the Grasberg mine, in Timika, Statistics Indonesia (BPS) data show.

At 94 percent, Papua also has one of Indonesia’s lowest electrification ratios, which is the proportion of communities with access to electricity.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo decided to hold the upcoming PON in Papua with the hope of boosting local infrastructure development and Papua’s performance in the games.

The games were, however, postponed to next year after many provinces, including Papua itself, imposed partial lockdowns, officially called PSBB, that delayed construction and forced people to stay at home.

“Construction materials from Java could not enter Papua after Papua closed its airports and ports," said Youth and Sports Minister Zainudin Amali on April 23.

Read also: Jokowi moves Papua's 2020 National Games to next year