Get Ready! Government Will Distribute Free Rice Cookers This Weekend

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Arifin Tasrif. (Photo: Doc. ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources targets that electric-based cooking utensils (AML) in the form of rice cookers will begin this month.

ESDM Minister Arifin Tasrif said, based on the plan, as many as 500 units of rice cookers will be distributed in the fourth week of this month.

"(AML) is expected to be distributed in the 4th week of November 2023 so that it can be carried out until mid-December 2023," Arifin said in a Working Meeting with Commission VII DPR RI quoted Wednesday, November 22.

Currently, the list of budget implementation or DIPA has been published and is in the stage of procuring AML units through e-catalog.

In addition, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources is also preparing data on prospective recipients.

"Currently, DIPA has been published and is in the stage of preparing data on prospective recipients and preparing procurement through e-cataog," said Arifin.

Met separately after the Raker, the Director General of Electricity, Jisman Hutajulu, said that his ministry had pocketed at least 407,000 data on potential recipients of free rice cookers as of November 14, 2023, from the targeted 500,000 recipients this year.

"Now there are 407,000 data and the data is still verified because some may not qualify," said Jisman to the media crew after the Working Meeting with Commission VII.

He explained, if this distribution is done through e-catalog so that those who procure AML can be directly connected to distributors and can be sent directly.

He explained that the verification stage was still carried out for some data because there was a possibility that the recipient data did not match the conditions in the field.

"It has to be verified in the field, you really have no electricity. Then, if we give AML, it will add electricity demand, but if there is less transformer or electricity in the area, it will be troublesome. You have to have justification there, because it will be a hassle later," concluded Jisman.