Pangkalpinang, Bangka Belitung (ANTARA News) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has stated that the target to make provisions for 35,000 MW of electricity production must be realized to support Indonesias economic progress.

"The target of 35,000 MW electricity production should be realized by any means, otherwise complaints of outages will continue," the president observed in his speech while inaugurating the regional electricity generation project in the form of Mobile Power Plant Air Anyir, Sumatra, on Wednesday.

President Jokowi mentioned that based on the report, by the end of 2015, the existing power plant projects had signed the agreement and some have even started construction.

"The agreement has been already signed and the ground breaking ceremonies are also underway. I will continue to monitor the development process," president Jokowi added.

President Jokowi disclosed that he had received many complaints from the local residents during his visit to Bangka Belitung in 2015 that the area was always experiencing outages.

"At that time, I had instructed the Minister of State Enterprises and the States Electricity Company PLN to make Bangka Belitung a priority," Jokowi recalled.

The development of gas powered power plant within a period of six months was considered much quicker than the coal fired power plants development which takes about 4-5 years.

"The 30 MW gas power plant for Bangka Belitung has already been completed. It is being run on a trial basis. Another 25 MW plant would be added in late September, thus making it 50-60 MW addition," Jokowi stressed.

The 100 MW power plant is expected to be completed within three years. "Plants with a capacity of 50 MW were already there, and were enough to meet the needs but we must anticipate growth. We must prepare for such a scenario," Jokowi urged.

Meanwhile, six other power plants that were also inaugurated included the 2x25 MW in Bangka, 1x25 MW MPP in Belitung, 3x25 MW in Paya Pasir Medan, 1x25 MW in Nias, 3x 25 MW in Aur Duri Riau and 4X25 MW in Lampung.

"I would also ask not to focus only on ground breaking ceremonies. I will make sure that this process is completed. Besides, the people should also keep an eye on the project," the president said.

The event was also attended by State Owned Enterprises Minister Rini Soemarno, Chief of the Presidential Staff Office Teten Masduki, President Director of PT PLN Sofyan Basir and the governor of Bangka Belitung, Rustam Efendi.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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