Govt and legislators blamed on the shortage of fuel supply
Wednesday, July 6 2005 - 02:49 AM WIB
"Both the government and the legislators should be responsible in the widespread shortage of fuel supply," he told Petromindo at the sideline of a seminar on an energy seminar in Jakarta on Tuesday. "The government and House members should give a higher allocation of subsidized oil supply this year," he added.
According to Kurtubi the shortage of the fuel supply was due to miscalculation made by the government and the House members. The allocation of the subsidy for the fuel supply was determined without considering the possible increase in the demand both in the domestic and international market, he said.
"It is quite ironic the government and the legislators reduced the fuel supply to 59 million kilo liters this year from 63 million kilo liters last year when the trend of the domestic fuel consumption shows a continued increase," he added. With the current growth of the domestic fuel consumption of between 3 percent and 5 percent, the fuel supply should been higher, he said.
Meanwhile a member of the House of Representatives, Rizal Jalil, said that the fuel shortage problem mainly resulted from the sharp increase in the fuel prices in the international market.
"With the sharp increase in the crude oil prices in the international market, the government faces difficulties to finance the oil subsidy," he added. "If the price of oil in the international market reaches US$60 per barrel, the government should provide a subsidy of about Rp 90 trillion, far higher than the Rp 76.5 trillion that has been allocated in the state budget," he added.
He, however, said that the House members fully understood the situation and would be ready to talk with the government on the possible increase the fuel subsidy allocation in the state budget so that the fuel shortage could be overcome. (dino)