14,500 'Kancil' to start plying city streets

JAKARTA (JP): Some 14,500 kancil, the locally made four- wheeled motorized vehicle, are expected to ply the city's streets in the next three months, replacing the notoriously noisy and polluting bajaj (three-wheeled motorized vehicle), an official said on Wednesday.

"If we secure an approval from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, we hope kancil could operate here within the next three months," the City Land Transportation and Traffic Control Agency (DLLAJ) chief, Buyung Atang, said.

There are currently some 20,000 Indian-made bajaj, but only 13,500 of them are licensed.

Buyung said the new vehicles would only replace licensed bajaj, while the unlicensed ones would be banned.

He added the city would conduct a raid against unlicensed bajaj following the replacement of licensed vehicles.

He said kancil distributor PT Kurnia Abadi Niaga Citra Indah Lestari agreed to buy each licensed bajaj for Rp 7.5 million (US$681) each.

"The price of abajaj is still negotiable. But I think that asking price is acceptable as the distributor would have to scrap them anyway," Buyung told reporters after meeting Governor Sutiyoso at Jakarta City Hall.

Buyung said the kancil is environmentally friendly as it uses gas, unlike the gasoline-fueled bajaj, which have been heavily criticized for polluting the air.

State-owned oil and gas company Pertamina had promised to provide more gas-filling stations in the city, he said.

He said that the company could save Rp 600 billion a year, the amount given earlier as a subsidy to gasoline if kancil vehicles, along with 23,000 cabs, used gas as fuel.

"With Rp 600 billion, Pertamina could build more than 100 gas stations as building a gas station only costs about Rp 5 billion," he said.

Drivers and owners of bajaj vehicles had earlier complained that the offer to buy their vehicles at a price of Rp 7.5 million was too low as they bought them for between Rp 10 million and Rp 15 million each.

They also questioned the price of kancil, which was reportedly as much as Rp 30 million each, and the use of gas as the city lacked gas stations.

The city administration has been planning to replace the three-wheeled motorized vehicles for the past two years as the vehicle was not included in the list of public transportation allowed to operate in the city as stipulated by the city's bylaws.

According to the bylaws, the city's public transportation vehicles should have at least four wheels.

Kancil have an engine capacity equivalent to a 400 cc car and a gas tank capacity of 20 liters. The car can reach a maximum speed of 60 kilometers per hour.

Kancil is made by ailing Dirgantara Indonesia, which used to be called IPTN or Nusantara Aircraft Industry.

Buses

In a related development, Buyung said the city would continue its plan to rejuvenate public buses although Minister of Communication Agum Gumelar had agreed to buy 1,550 buses from China.

"It's the central government's plan. We will continue with our plan," he said.

He said the bus scheme would be conducted by purchasing buses from local producer PT Texmaco and importing buses from China or South Korea.

The city administration has urged the central government to help arrange financial creditors for bus production, he said.

The administration had also asked the central government to lower import tax to about 10 percent from the current 40 percent, saying that under current tax rates, the price for a bus could reach as high as Rp 400 million.

"We cannot afford to buy a bus with the current low bus fares of between Rp 500 and Rp 2,700," he said.

He said that state-owned bus companies PPD and Perum Damri could afford the buses with the current import tax as most of their buses would be operated as inter-city buses.

"So there is a cross-subsidy. Some buses would be used as city buses while the majority would be used as inter-city buses," he said.

Agum signed a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday with his Chinese counterpart Huang Zhengdong to purchase 1,550 buses from China.

As many as 1,050 buses would go to Damri, which serves inter- city routes, while the remaining 500 buses would be operated here by PPD. (jun)