JAKARTA - President Director of PT PLN (Persero) Darmawan Prasodjo revealed that the growth in electricity consumption in Batam experienced a significant increase.
Throughout 2022, electricity consumption will increase by 14.71 percent from 2.56 million megawatt hour (MWh) in 2021 to 2.94 million MWh in 2022.
"In 2022, the growth in electricity consumption in Batam is extraordinary, if in 2021 it only grows 5.01 percent, in 2022 it will be more than 14 percent. This is a signal of Batam's economic growth which has recovered after the pandemic," Darmawan said in a statement to the media, Thursday, February 2.
Darmawan added that the economic growth in Batam was also seen from the potential for electricity needs in Batam through industrial growth.
He assessed that this potential is a bright spot for national economic growth considering that Batam is an area with potential future business.
Moreover, he continued, Batam is part of the international commodity supply chain.
"Batam is one of the areas with big priority customers for PLN. We are committed to continuing to serve industrial needs in Batam. Through PLN Batam, we will provide super premium services to support industrial growth in Batam. With reliable and affordable electricity, we believe PLN Batam can be at the heart of economic growth here," said Darmawan.
In line with the growth in electricity consumption, Assistant I of the Batam City Government, Yusfa Hendri, said that economic growth in Batam City in 2021 was able to grow by 4.75 percent.
This figure is higher than the economic growth of Riau Islands Province by 3.43 percent and nationally 3.69 percent. Even in the second quarter of 2022 Batam's economy grew 5.01 percent.
"And we believe that in 2022 the range of Batam's economic growth will be in the range of 5.5 to 6.8 percent," said Yusfa.
Economic growth can also be seen from the recovery of the number of tourists visiting Batam.
By 2020, the number of tourists is only around 2,000, while by 2022 there will be more than 565,000.
This number will increase along with infrastructure development such as increasing road width, Batam International Airport, and providing public transportation such as the Integrated Rail Cross (LRT).
"The target is that it can reach 30.40 million people who go in and out of the bricks through the airport. We can imagine if there will be such a lot of traffic, of course this will lead to a multiplier effect. This will create big business opportunities and this of course will also require a lot of electricity," concluded Yusfa.
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