JAKARTA - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has teamed up with the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) to provide electricity and clean water access to 20,000 villagers in Indonesia and Timor-Leste.
Through the US$18 million-worth ACCESS (Accelerating Clean Energy Access to Reduce Inequality) project, the two organisations are partnering Indonesia's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources and Timor-Leste's Ministry of State Administration. The project will run for four years.
"By bringing access to reliable and affordable electricity, ACCESS will change the life of thousands of people who had not access to it in remote areas of Eastern Indonesia as well as Timor-Leste," said UNDP Indonesia's acting Resident Representative Sophie Kemkhadze in an official statement received by IDNFinancials.com, Thursday (10/9).
"ACCESS is also a climate action that the electricity generated will be clean and renewable as it will come from solar panels. UNDP Indonesia is grateful to KOICA for the support provided and to the governments of Indonesia and Timor-Leste with whom we will implement this major initiative."
In Indonesia, ACCESS will be carried out in 23 villages in Central Kalimantan, West Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, and East Nusa Tenggara. Through the project, off-grid solar power plants will be built with a total capacity of 1.2 megawatts.
In Timor-Leste, the project will be carried out in 25 villages in the municipalities of Dili, Manatuto, and Bobonaro, using around 1,000 solar-PV lamps and 10 solar-PV water pumps.
“ACCESS memberikan dukungan tepat waktu kepada orang-orang yang tinggal di daerah terpencil di kedua negara dengan meningkatkan akses ke sumber air yang aman dan andal melalui solusi energi terbarukan, terutama selama pandemi COVID-19 di mana kebersihan dan sanitasi sangat penting,” kata Kepala Perwakilan UNDP Timor-Leste Munkhtuya Altangerel. (MS)