State-owned electricity firm (PLN) spent nearly Rp200 trillion out of the total budget of Rp300 trillion on local products so far this year, PLN President Director Darmawan Prasodjo stated.

“Our spending reaches Rp300 trillion per year out of which Rp200 trillion is spent on the domestic industry,” he noted while opening PLN Locomation 2022 at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC) on Wednesday.

Prasodjo remarked that as over four million workers were involved in the ecosystem, its impact is huge.

He ensured local entrepreneurs, including suppliers of components to PLN present at the event, that recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic had begun, with demand continuing to increase.

“(During the pandemic) the suppliers of components to PLN might see their orders declining. Bismillah (in the name of Allah) Insya Allah (God Willing), the demand has begun to increase. Moreover, the increase in demand is beyond our expectation,” he remarked.

PLN once faced a challenge when some of its components had not been produced domestically, and it had to import them. However, PLN always urged the government to facilitate the construction of factories producing the components.

With the operation of the factories, PLN will replace its imported components with local components, he remarked.

In addition, PLN will raise the passing grade of domestic components as part of the efforts to increase its local content rate (TKDN), he stated.

“We are looking forward to building a conducive ecosystem to collaborate and innovate,” he remarked.

PLN’s TKDN had reached 48.8 percent as of September 30, 2022, surpassing its target of 42 percent for this year, he pointed out.

Source: Antara News