Gas exploitation disregards local consumption

The Association of Indonesian Engineers (PII) said on Thursday that the natural gas development in Indonesia had often been constrained by the government's own policies that concentrate merely on export market and disregard domestic market.

PII board chairman Kuntoro Mangkusubroto said to reform the country's gas industry, the government first of all needs to review its gas policy.

"Many government regulations focus on export market, while at the same time, many would be fit for domestic consumption," Kuntoro said after opening the conference by Association for Engineering Education in South Asia and Pacific in Kuta, Bali.

The conference, among others, discussed the planning for long-distance gas industry development education programs that would be funded by UNESCO and human resources development in the technical and industrial sectors.

Kuntoro said that President Abdurrahman Wahid had instructed the development of all those gas-related sectors, but again it still get stuck because of the non-supportive regulations. (*)