Kaltara Governor Zainal Paliwang Proposes 1,500 Underprivileged Residents To Get Free Electricity Aid

Illustration (Photo: Doc. North Kalimantan Provincial Government)

JAKARTA - The Governor of North Kalimantan (Kaltara) Zainal Paliwang is said to be in the middle of applying for the 2022 Electricity Install Assistance (BPBL) for his poor citizens in four regencies and cities.

According to him, the team is currently waiting for the validation results from the Directorate General of Electricity at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources as part of the applicable procedure.

"Currently we are waiting for verification from the central government, hopefully what is approved is not far from what we proposed," he said in an official statement quoted on Wednesday, June 29.

On the same occasion, Head of the Kaltara ESDM Office, Norman Raga, revealed that if the administrative process was completed, the results would be directly submitted to PLN in the destination area for further technical handling.

He then tried to give understanding to the community that it was possible that some of the proposals were rejected by the verification team.

"The provincial government only proposes, but the validation decision will go directly to PLN, which oversees Kaltara," he said.

Furthermore, Deni explained that BPBL is a government program to help install new free electricity for households without electricity.

Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Electricity at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources targets as many as 80,000 BPBLs for households in 2022 to receive the program. The project itself is implemented in 34 provinces and is projected to cost around Rp120 billion.

"The source of funds is not only from the state budget, but also electricity distribution measures supported by the regional budget, which targets 50 households in Nunukan to receive BPBL this year," he said.

For information, previously in 2020, 85 new electricity was connected free of charge for households. Meanwhile, for the 2021 period, it was recorded that BPBL was enjoyed by 150 households spread across Bulungan (50 new connections), Malinau (50 new connections), and Tana Tidung (50 new connections).

Thus, out of a total of 482 villages in North Kalimantan, 71.16 percent or 343 villages are included in the Electric Village program and the percentage of the electrification ratio will reach 80.71 percent by the end of 2021.