The Indonesian government has designated a master plan to develop power stations with a combined generation capacity of 35,000 megawatts over the next five years.

At the construction launch of a project at Bantul district, Yogyakarta, on May 4, President Jokowi said the government will closely monitor the project in the hope of accomplishing the plan as soon as possible to benefit those who do not have access to electricity.

Once completed, the power plants are expected to meet domestic electricity usage growth in 2019 and create jobs for about three million people.

According to Minister of Energy and Minerals Sudirman Said, the new power plants are projected to build in over 200 locations in Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and other regions in eastern Indonesia with total value of about 1,100 trillion Indonesian Rupiah (84.4 billion USD).

The president hoped power plants would be developed using renewable and new sources of energy such as wind, geothermal, hydro and plantation energy, the last of which can be sourced from vegetable oil and biomass.

Electricity shortages have caused negative impacts on the country’s economic development, particularly in the hotel and industrial sectors.-VNA