Activists pitch natural gas

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The recent fuel price hikes have prompted environmental activists to call for the government to produce more compressed natural gas (CNG), which they say is a cheaper, cleaner alternative.

Currently, the price of gasoline is about Rp 2,400 (27 US cents) a liter, compared with the Rp 1,550 equivalent of CNG.

"Many operators of public vehicles would turn to CNG if the government guaranteed its supply," said Clean Air Partners activist Ahmad Syafrudin on Saturday.

There were three reasons why public transportation vehicles should convert to CNG, he said. Indonesia was the world's largest producer of gas, which was cheaper and cleaner than gasoline, he said.

Ahmad urged the city administration to help transport operators interested in using CNG to convert their vehicles. The move would be in line with bylaw No. 2/2005 on air pollution control, which would be implemented on Feb. 16 next year.

The bylaw requires around 80,000 public transportation operators in the city to use CNG in a bid to control air pollution in the capital, which is one of the worst-polluted cities in the world.

Ahmad said operators should be given financial help so they could afford to buy conversion kits and gas cylinders.

Head of the air pollution control division at the City Environment Management Body (BPLHD) Yusiono Anwar Supalal, however, said that currently only seven gas pump stations were still operational.

Meanwhile, the number of vehicles that used gas has declined from about 2,000 to a paltry 500 now, he said.

Yusiono said the body was mapping the roads used by public transportation operators and the availability of gas networks across the city.

"The results of the survey will give us information about how many gas stations must be constructed, and where," he said.

Stations did not need to be constructed near underground gas mains because stations could be supplied with trucks, a system that had been successfully used in Bombay, India.

Yusiono said the city would also give loans to operators to buy the converter units.

Public transport operators would have to invest some Rp 9 million for the equipment, he said. "This investment will pay for itself within a year and after that operators will enjoy more profits."

He said 190 busway buses would be the first public vehicles to make the changeover. The city would also require all vehicles owned by the city administration to use CNG.

Ahmad said the central government should support the initiative in the form of a gas supply guarantees and incentives to automakers to produce CNG-compatible vehicles.