“When will our houses receive electricity, akin to other villages that have enjoyed it?” Apner, a resident of Tomado, one of those five villages in Lindu Sub-district, stated while expressing angst to a reporter from ANTARA in Palu on Wednesday.
Apner affirmed that residents from his village and four others have longed to receive stable electricity from PLN, as they have solely relied on solar power and lanterns during the night.
They have demanded that electricity be supplied to Lindu Plateau, one of the tourism destinations in Sigi District that has attracted several tourists worldwide.
In fact, he noted that PLN had constructed power poles from Sadaunta Village, Kulawi Sub-district, to Lindu, though the network wires had yet to be installed.
The power poles built by PLN were destroyed on September 28, 2018, when a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck, and the company had yet to fix the problem this time.
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A similar complaint was voiced by Barnabas, one of the religious leaders in Olu Village, Lindu Sub-district, which is located across Lake Lindu.
To reach Olu Village, people have to take a motorboat ride from a port in Tomado to Kanawu that takes half an hour.
However, foreign tourists are interested in visiting Lindu, surrounded by a dense forest of the Lore Lindu National Park (TNLL), a sanctuary for several endemic animals and herbs, including Sulawesi’s endangered eagles that live and breed in the forest around the lake.
Despite its tourism potential, Lindu Sub-district’s geographical and topographic conditions make it relatively difficult to transport the materials. Moreover, when heavy rains lash and trigger landslides, the government is required to work harder to improve infrastructure to develop the tourism sector.
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Translator: Azizah Fitriyanti, Rika Febria
Editor: Sri Haryati
Copyright © ANTARA 2019
