1,180 Residents Of West Papua And Southwest Papua Received Electricity New Installment Assistance

JAKARTA - The government through the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) is targeting to provide free electricity installation connections to 1,180 households in West Papua Province and Southwest Papua Province.

The assistance provided is an oemerintah program entitled Electricity New Installation Assistance (BPBL) which also cooperates with PT PLN (Persero).

Throughout 2022, as many as 340 households in Southwest Papua Province have received free electricity installation connection assistance from the Government

"The realization of BPBL recipients in the province of Southwest Papua in 2022 is 340 household connections. For South Sorong Regency, 39 household connections have been connected spread across three sub-districts," said the Director of Electricity Program Development of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Wanhar to reporters, Thursday, February 23.

Wanhar conveyed that the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources targets that by the end of 2023 it will be able to electrify to 80,183 households.

"We hope that the allocation of BPBL beneficiaries in West Papua province this year can increase compared to the previous year," he said.

Executive Vice President of Operations, Sulawesi Distribution, Maluku, Papua and Nusa Tenggara PT PLN (Persero) Indradi Setiawan said, in line with the government's goal, PLN is fully committed to equalizing access and accelerating the provision of electricity.

He hopes that the collaboration between the government and PLN will be the first step in synergy to expand and develop other cooperation that will increase the use of business potential in the electricity ecosystem.

"Hopefully the BPBL program can provide benefits for people in need, and extreme poverty rates can fall," said Indradi.

The recipients of the BPBL program for Fiscal Year 2023 will receive electricity installations for 900 VA-powered houses, 3 lamppoints, 1 contact box, inspection and testing of the Operational Feasibility Certificate (SLO) installation, connection to PLN and initial electricity tokens.