Jakarta delays CNG decree until supply secured

While the campaign for the use of compressed natural gas (CNG) is getting noisier in the city, the Jakarta administration has delayed issuing a decree making the use of CNG mandatory for public transportation.

The Jakarta Mineral and Mining Agency said Friday that the administration had decided to hold the decree back because of uncertainties over the supply of CNG.

The agency, which was tasked with formulating the decree, also said Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso asked for assurance from the central government that it would secure the supply of CNG to Jakarta

?Pak Sutiyoso will not sign the already-finished decree as long as there are still supply problems,? agency mining division head Haris Pindratno told The Jakarta Post.

?The users of CNG could sue the administration if the supply was disrupted after the gubernatorial decree was issued,? he added.

Haris said state gas company Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN) had promised to supply up to 600 million standard cubic feet of CNG per day to Jakarta, The supply is to come from state oil and gas company PT Pertamina.

?However, PGN is currently building undersea pipes from South Sumatra to Jakarta. If the project is finished by October, the supply is expected to increase by up to 250 standard cubic feet per day by February 2007,? he said, adding that PGN currently supplied around 87 standard cubic feet of CNG per day to Jakarta.

Last year the administration signed a contract with PGN and Pertamina to ensure the supply of CNG to Jakarta. PGN will pipe gas from a field in the Java Sea owned by PT British Petroleum Indonesia and from one in South Sumatra owned by Conoco Philip.

The use of CNG was a part of the 2005 Air Pollution Control Bylaw. The bylaw also required vehicle emissions testing and a smoking ban in certain places, part of efforts to reduce Jakarta?s infamous pollution levels.

Out of the 264 gas stations in Jakarta, only eight of them currently sell CNG. The administration plans to revitalize seven CNG stations owned by PT Pertamina to meet the demands of public transportation operators.

Jakarta, the first city in Indonesia to have a bylaw on air pollution control, will distribute 3,000 catalyst converters to the owners of public transportation. The converters, valued at between Rp 8 million (US$842) and Rp 10 million, could reduce by up to 70 percent the amount of pollutants released by cars. (*)