Govt signs energy-related contracts worth US$227 million

 

Unlike in previous years, the ministry has moved more quickly in signing the contracts to speed up the construction of infrastructures to support President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s economic program. The ministry has drastically cut the bureaucratic red-tape that companies must wade through in order to obtain construction permits.

 

“We’ve already signed all of the contracts for this year, seven months earlier than last year,” said Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said on Monday in Jakarta, accompanied by Jokowi and Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro.

 

Twenty four companies took part in the ceremony, representing various contractors. The contractors include giant state-owned energy company Pertamina, state-owned gas distributor PGN and the construction firms Wijaya Karya, Adhi Karya and Hutama Karya.

 

In his remarks, Jokowi said that Indonesia would need to be more competitive in meeting its food and energy needs in the next 30 years. “I always remind people to focus on food and energy. To achieve that goal we have to build the infrastructure,” he said.

 

The contract signing on Monday was the third, and by far the largest, wave of contracts that the ministry has signed in 2016. The first two waves, on Jan. 14 and Feb. 2, had a combined value of Rp 545 billion.

 

Earlier contracts included the construction of natural-gas stations, gas pipeline networks, micro-hydro power plants, solar-powered electric generators, waste-based power plants and bio-gas power plants.

 

The largest contract, worth Rp 493 billion, was for a gas pipeline project in Prabumulih in South Sumatra. The contract went to three state-owned companies, namely PT Wijaya Karya, PT Nindya Karya and PT Rekayasa Industri.