Govt urged to impose import duty on asphalt

State oil and gas firm Pertamina has called on the government to impose import duty on asphalt to help protect the company against the growing dominance of imported products, the Neraca daily reported on Monday.

The paper quoted Pertamina's petrochemical manager Herijanto S. as saying that the tax should be imposed on asphalt products that can be produced at home.

He said that Pertamina could now produce asphalt with quality similar to imported ones.

Herijanto was worried that asphalt imports would continue to increase in the coming years if the government did not impose tax on them.

Meanwhile, Pertamina?s asphalt marketing manager Anwar Dampang said Pertamina?s oil refinery in Cilacap, Central Java, could turn out 720,000 tons of asphalt per year. Indonesia?s annual demand for asphalt reaches an estimated 900,000 tons.

Pertamina operates nine oil refineries in different provinces.

?Actually, we do not have to import asphalt,? Anwar said, while dismissing importers? complaints that locally made asphalt was of low quality. (*)