Governor may revoke levies on gas pipeline imposed by regencies

East Java Governor has the power to revoke decisions made by several regencies in the province recently to impose levies on gas pipeline facilities installed by state owned gas company PT Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN) in their territories, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Tuesday.

According, members of the Legislative Council for East Java province, based on government?s ruling No 20, 2000, the governor has the power to control policies issued by regent administrations.

The legislators said that the imposition of such levies should be regulated under the provincial administration?s ruling so that the tariff will be the same for each regency.

PGN has recently complained that the decision by some regencies in East Java to impose levies on the installation of its pipeline facilities would burden its operation.

The company has installed 430 kilometers-long pipelines to distribute its gas in East Java. The gas pipeline network passes through several regencies in the province. (*)