The Ministry Of Energy And Mineral Resources Connects 304 Incapable Households In Central Papua

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources)

JAKARTA - The government through the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) has connected free electricity to as many as 304 residents in Central Papua through the Electricity New Installation Assistance Program (BPBL). The installation of BPBL in Central Papua exceeded the target of 6 percent, of which previously targeted 285 beneficiaries.

The director of the Wanhar Electricity Program Development said the installation of the BPBL program nationally exceeded the target of the joint optimization results.

"Thank God, it has exceeded the target from 80,000 to 80,182 nationally, this is the result of varying budget optimization per region until we get more," said Wanhar in an official statement, Monday, December 12.

Furthermore, Wanhar explained that until the third quarter of 2022, Indonesia's Electrification Ratio (RE) reached 99.60 percent. From this data, there are still around 318,470 households that have not yet been electrified and most of them are scattered in remote areas (remote areas), especially the Front, Outermost, and Disadvantaged (3T) areas.

"One of the government's efforts to increase the electrification ratio, and also to help people gain access to electricity is the Electricity New Installation Assistance (BPBL) program which has the full support of Commission VII DPR RI," said Wanhar.

Senior Specialist of Commercial Management of PT PLN (Persero), Ismail Deu stated that PLN is fully committed to carrying out the duties of the BPBL program from the Government.

"We, PLN, are cooperating, collaborating in carrying out the noble duties of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, namely the BPBL program which is expected to improve the economy in Nabire," said Ismail.

Member of Commission VII of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia, Marthen Douw, stated that Papua is the easternmost location in Indonesia.

"One of our longings is clear Papua, where Papua is located at the eastmost where the sun first rises, so it must be clear with electricity," said Marthen.

He also stated that the government should pay more attention to electricity infrastructure in Papua.

"We ask related parties to be serious about this (electricity), so that Nabire can feel the lighting. The most important thing is that children can learn so that Human Resources are better and can compete with other countries," said Marthen.

The Regent of Nabire, Mesak Magai said, he and the local government always try to meet infrastructure needs in Nabire.

"The condition of Nabire district, all access must be fulfilled, both infrastructure, electricity. Thank you profusely to the Ministry of Central and PLN for the electricity, in the past the lights in Nabire were like disco lights, turned off, only turned on for about 12 hours," said Mesak.