Bintan Regency Government Pays Arrears For PJU Lamp Electricity Of IDR 1.5 Billion To PLN

Illustration of public street lighting (doc. Antara)

RIAU - Acting Regent of Bintan Regency, Riau Islands Province Buralimar confirmed that his party would pay arrears for public street lighting (PJU) of around Rp1.5 billion to PLN Tanjungpinang. Due to delinquency in payments in the last few months.

"God willing, we will pay it as soon as possible," said Buralimar, Saturday, October 24.

Buralimar apologized to PLN for being in arrears and hoped that the state-owned company could revive the hundreds of PJU light points that had been turned off since Wednesday (21/10) night, for the safety and comfort of the community.

He stated that the late payment occurred because he was waiting for the 2020 Revised APBD, which had been approved by the Bintan DPRD on Wednesday (16/9), to be evaluated by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

"The Revised APBD should be evaluated by the Riau Islands Provincial Government and completed within 14 working days. However, because the governor is held by Acting, that's why the Ministry of Home Affairs withdrew and the evaluation took a while," he explained.

Meanwhile, the Manager of PLN (Persero) UP3 Tanjungpinang Suharno said that the Bintan Regency Government was in arrears in payment for PJU lights for two months, namely August to September 2020.

His party has written to the Bintan Regency Government regarding the payment for the PJU lights, but until now it has not been realized.

"The total accumulated arrears of around Rp1.5 billion, per month are around Rp700 million more," he added.

Furthermore, Suharno said that PLN has routinely deposited street lighting taxes of around IDR 1 billion to the Bintan Regency Government, which comes from monthly account fees and the purchase of community tokens.

"Whereas the Bintan Regency Government has a surplus of income from the PJU information tax that we have deposited," said Suharno.