PGN supplies gas to low-cost apartment

State owned gas distributor PT Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN) has started supplying gas to the low-cost apartment in Marunda, North Jakarta.

The maiden gas supply was inaugurated in a ceremony presided over by President-elect, Jakarta?s Governor Joko Widido, PGN said in a press statement Thursday.

The distribution of gas to the Marunda apartment is part of PGN?s commitment to expand the use of gas at households in Jakarta as part of the efforts to reduce the consumption of oil fuels.

Since 2009, the firm has built gas pipeline connections to around 73,000 households across the country. In the Greater Jakarta area (Jabotabek), the firm has built pipe connections to 5,234 households since 2011.

Director General of Oil and Gas at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Edy Hermantoro, said the Marunda apartment is the first low-cost apartment to receive gas supplies from PGN. PGN will expand its supplies to other low-cost apartments across the city.

The Jakarta administration has been aggressively building low-cost apartments across the city over the past two years, where it has moved and planned to move people living slum areas, such as river banks.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon