PGN prepares roadmap to develop new gas network for 30m households
Saturday, November 30 2019 - 05:09 PM WIB
State-controlled gas distribution firm PT PGN Tbk said it will draft a roadmap to help realize its plan to develop new pipelines through 2037 to distribute gas to some 30 million households, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Saturday.
The paper quoted PGN President Director Gigih Prakoso as saying that within the next 5-6 years, the company will develop new gas pipeline network for a total of 10 million households.
He expected the roadmap could be completed by mid-2020, so that tender process for the development of the new pipelines can be held in 2021.
Read also: PGN to develop own household gas pipelines
Gigih said that aside from technical issues, the roadmap will also cover funding aspects. He said that aside from state budget, and internal PGN funds, the company will also seek cooperation with private investors through public private partnership (PPP) scheme.
He explained that under the PPP scheme, the private investors will be playing greater role in developing the pipelines, and PGN will use pipeline for 30 years by paying fee to the investors, after which the pipeline assets will be transferred fully to PGN. This is similar to the scheme applied by state-owned electricity firm PT PLN in helping to accelerate the development of power plants.
As per end of last year, a total of 325,852 households have been connected with gas pipelines in 40 cities/regencies. The government has set a target of another 78,216 households in 17 cities/regencies to be connected with gas pipeline network by end of this year. With new pipelines being developed this year and to be developed next year, total number of households connected with gas pipeline will reach 697,601 by end of next year.
Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak