Photo: Yomen Village’s beach at sunset. This village joins the list of rural settlements with no running electricity
SOUTH HALMAHERA – The Indonesian government carries on its work to increase electrification rates across the nation, mainly in places like Maluku, North Maluku, Papua, East Nusa Tenggara, and other remote islands, via the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry.
Two major constraints to this goal are consumer buying power and infrastructure availability. Lack of access to public services and buildings is the biggest issue in establishing power lines in far-off villages and geographically-challenging regions.
With little to no facilities for it, how are the locals meeting their energy needs?
People in northern Maluku, most notably Gane Dalam Village (Inner Gane Village), rely on generators to compensate for the lack of power coverage provided by state-owned firm PLN. These diesel-powered machines deliver electricity to homes for things like lighting, phone charging, to getting the rice cookers running.
Funds to procure them come from the village budget and a local company, through its Corporate Social Contribution (CSC) program. “The company sent a generator a while back. My friend and I had previously requested [this item] to PT Gelora Mandiri Membangun [PT GMM]. We met directly with Mr. Mahdi in the PR Division [to talk about this]. From there this request was processed and the thing was brought here for the villagers,” said Gane Dalam local figure Zainulfuad.
For Christmas Eve last year, PT GMM came through with the fuel to help churches keep their lights on during services. This gift was provided for four nearby villages, from Yamli, Sekely, Yomen, to Jibubu, where eight churches would be holding the services.
Yonias Kadari, Yamli’s village government section head, said, “We’d like to thank the company for the basic food packages and fuel. May [PT] GMM continue to grow and bring us benefits.”
For Kadari, the diesel donation is enough to help with the churches’ lighting needs. Located on the coast, Yamli lacks running electricity, so this aid is vital.
“This year (2023), there are slight changes [to our donation program] where we add diesel to help light [power] the churches on Christmas Eve. I hope it will be useful for this Christmas celebration,” said PT GMM representative Mahdi M. Nur at the handover ceremony.
PT Gelora Mandiri Membangun is part of the oil palm plantation corporation Tunas Sawa Erma (TSE) Group. PT GMM is located in Gane Dalam, South Halmahera Regency, and is committed to practicing sustainable palm oil governance as well as innovating to prioritize its social and environmental responsibility. (PR)
Source : tribunnews.com
