Busway buses to use natural gas
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
The city administration plans to turn to compressed natural gas (CNG) to fuel its buses for the busway project in an effort to help reduce air pollution, although currently there are only three CNG stations citywide.
"We have decided to use gas for the busway but we have to change the engine specification of the buses," Governor Sutiyoso told reporters on Wednesday after a meeting with PT Mahanaim Group executives.
The company has shown interest in supplying CNG gas for the busway.
"Using gas as a fuel is urgent in Jakarta because air pollution has reached an alarming level, which is mostly caused by vehicular emissions," he said.
Sutiyoso said the administration had planned to use natural gas for the busway's first corridor stretching from Blok M in South Jakarta to Kota in West Jakarta. The plan had to be aborted as the preparations for the supply of natural gas were inadequate.
The next corridor will connect the Pulo Gebang bus terminal in East Jakarta, which is under construction, and the Kalideres bus terminal in West Jakarta via the National Monument (Monas).
City Transportation Agency head Rustam Effendi Sidabutar said PT Mahanaim, through its subsidiary PT Lintas Maju Bersama, has agreed to invest Rp 27.6 billion (US$3.07 million) for the natural gas project.
PT Mahanaim will adopt Argentine-based technology, Galileo, to upgrade the gas fuel pressure from the current level of between seven bars and nine bars up to 250 bars.
"We are still waiting for private parties interested in the project to invest in it," Rustam said.
He added that state oil and gas company Pertamina is committed to supply natural gas for the city.
The administration will build gas stations at the Kalideres or Rawabuaya bus terminal and a plot of land owned by the City Parking Management on Jl. Perintis Kemerdekaan, East Jakarta.
The gas stations will fuel between 187 and 200 buses which will ply the new corridors.
Gas-fueled buses will be procured by several bus operators whose routes were decommissioned due to the operation of the new busway project.
The operators are looking into the possibility of buying South-Korean Daewoo buses instead of Japanese' Hino and Mercedes- Benz of Germany.
The Daewoo buses have the same specification as the Hino, Rustam said, but added that each Daewoo is sold at Rp 1 billion, much cheaper than a Hino at Rp 1.5 billion. He did not mention the price of a Mercedes bus but only said that it would even be higher.
"We will let the operators choose the buses. If necessary, they will visit the Daewoo plant in South Korea," he said.