Pacific / Papua New Guinea

Indonesia's PLN to supply power to PNG

14:46 pm on 5 November 2018

Indonesia's state-owned electricity provider, PLN, says it will expand its operations to Papua New Guinea.

The company's manager, Semuel Yarangga, told Antara News that PNG and Indonesia will sign a memorandum of understanding later this month.

He said PNG's government had asked for power to be supplied to Vanimo, the main town in West Sepik province, close to the border with Indonesia's Papua province.

PLN is in the midst of an infrastructure drive in Papua and West Papua, where it has promised to provide power to 99 percent of villages by 2019.

In August, a PLN survey team being accompanied by Indonesian military personnel was ambushed in Papua's central highlands, prompting the company to withdraw its teams from three regencies.