Wednesday, February 10, 2010

November 21, 2009 13:32 PM

Power Crisis In Indonesia Enters Emergency Phase: Minister

JAKARTA, Nov 21 (Bernama) -- The Indonesian government concluded that the country is entering the "energy emergency phase" after a 22 of the 24 electricity systems are in deficit and alert condition, a local daily quoted the Economic Coordinating Minister Hatta Rajasa as saying, Antara news agency said.

"The power condition is in emergency phase because we have deficit in 11 regions of electricity system and other 11 regions are in alarming condition.

"The notion of deficit is totally lack of power while the alarming condition is that we can' t provide more power if there is a demand of additional electricity," he said, adding that the government hopes that in the next six months, there would be a concrete solution to reduce the scarcity.

The power crisis grew following power transformer damage in the main electricity post in Cawang and Kembangan, two areas in the capital city of Jakarta in September.

The damage forced Jakarta and surrounding areas to experience a shift blackout. The same blackout is already felt by some regions throughout the country due to power deficit.

The condition triggered protest, particularly from industrial parties that suffered trillion rupiah of losses.

-- BERNAMA

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