Kotim Regent Brings Good News, Entire Villages Will Be Connected To Electricity In 2024

East Kotawaringin Regent (Kotim) Halikinnor/ Antara

SAMPIT - The central government has promised to help expand the PLN electricity network in Central Kalimantan, including in East Kotawaringin Regency, Central Kalimantan Province with a target of electrifying all villages by 2024.

"So we have tried and Alhamdulillah we are accepted, even for Central Kalimantan not only for Kotim. So starting in 2022 it has started and hopefully by 2024 there will be no more villages that are not electrified by PLN," said East Kotawaringin Regent (Kotim) Halikinnor in Sampit, reported by Antara, Tuesday, April 19.

He explained that the good news was obtained from a meeting between the Central Kalimantan Provincial Government and the East Kotawaringin Regency Government with the Directorate General of Electricity at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources in Jakarta last week.

The meeting discussed the issue of electricity and kerosene gas conversion. This meeting followed up on the previous meeting between the East Kotawaringin Regency Government and the PDIP Faction and the Golkar Faction of the DPR RI.

Currently there are more than 400 villages in Central Kalimantan Province that have not been reached by the PLN electricity network. As a result, people have to rely on diesel engines and solar power plants to meet their electricity needs.

Especially in East Kotawaringin, there are 47 villages that have not been reached by PLN electricity. However, recently five villages have been connected so that the remaining 42 villages are expected to be resolved by 2024 at the latest.

He hopes that the community will soon be "free" from the problem of electricity isolation from the PLN network. This problem has been one of the greatest hopes of people in remote areas of East Kotawaringin. The inclusion of the PLN electricity network to all villages is expected to spur economic growth. Besides being able to facilitate activities such as learning and service, PLN's electricity supply can also encourage the growth of the micro, small and medium business sector.

The Regent gave an example, business actors in the Village of Pairs, Kota Besi Subdistrict, have to spend around Rp. 2 million per month to meet the cost of fuel and maintenance of the generator that supplies their electricity. Now that PLN's electricity is connected, the costs incurred are only around Rp. 150,000 per month.

"Automatically, the cost of electricity so far if you use a generator, it can help for other needs. We hope that if electricity is included in developing technology, the community's economy will be better," he said.

Everyone is asked for their support to make this program a success, including oil palm plantation companies, mining and forestry companies so that they can help facilitate if high voltage electricity networks have to cross their area because this is for the benefit of the wider community, said Halikinnor.