Jakarta – Indonesia needs around US$28.45 billion in new investment over the next 10 years to stave off a power crisis which has begun to hit some parts of the country.

Based on the national electricity general plan, the country's power sector is already at a critical stage, said mines and energy director-general for electricity, Mr Luluk Sumiarso.

A lack of state funding, and the government's decision to delay the construction of new power plants by independent power producers following the economic crisis, have forced the government to rely heavily on the private sector to secure the country's power supply.

Speaking at a seminar on the power industry, he added: "Concern about a potential electricity crisis in the near future is reasonable, since the sector has not been able to make adequate new investment in supply capacity to meet growing demand." New investments are now desperately needed to add to power supply by 24,549 megawatts and new transmission networks of 11,648 km in the next 10 years, said Mr Luluk.

Power demand in the Java-Bali region, for example, could outstrip supply by the year 2003. To prevent this crisis in Java-Bali and other regions, the government hopes to have invested around US$3.73 billion in new power plants and transmission networks by 2003.

For this year alone, the government expects investment of US$2.34 billion, of which US$2 billion is for new power plants, and US$340 million for power transmission networks, said Mr Luluk.

But investors are deterred by Indonesia's high country risk, weak legal certainties and rampant corruption practices, he pointed out. Mr Luluk said that due to the lack of funding, the government had relied on the private sector to secure the country's power supply.