City allows gas station operations in green areas

JAKARTA (JP): The municipality has allowed 21 gasoline stations built in green areas to continue operating, provided they are equipped with environmentally friendly liquefied gas filling facilities, Governor Sutiyoso said yesterday.

"The city has many environmental programs which must be continued, such as the blue sky campaign to reduce air pollution and the city's regreening program," he said after Budihardjo Sukmadi was installed as the new deputy governor of development affairs in the City Council offices yesterday.

"Both programs are important," he added.

He admitted that the 21 stations had been built on designated green areas, but said: "We have our own regreening priorities and currently, removing the gasoline stations from the green plots is no longer a top priority."

"The city needs more gasoline stations selling liquefied gas to promote the use of environmentally-friendly vehicles, which will help reduce air pollution."

Sutiyoso made the remarks in response to questions about contradictions in municipality decrees pertaining to fuel stations built on green areas.

Gubernatorial Decree No. 646/1.824.133, dated 11 March, 1996, contains an instruction to return the sites of gasoline stations built on former parkland back to green plots, as part of the city's regreening campaign.

As a result, three stations built on green plots have been closed down and their sites returned to green areas. The stations closed were Musi and Kalibesar Timur in West Jakarta and Lapangan Banteng Selatan in Central Jakarta.

In the same year, however, the city issued Deputy Gubernatorial Decree No.3558/1.853.2, dated Dec. 18, 1996, and memorandum of understanding (MOU) No.1439/1996, which state that 21 fuel stations built in green areas would be allowed to continue operating, provided they offered liquefied gas filling facilities.

The MOU was between by Deputy Governor for Economic and Development affairs, Hiswana Migas and PT Otogas Karya Pratama, a privately owned company.

Under the agreement, the municipality receives Rp 15 per liter of liquefied gas sold in each of the 21 stations.

There are a further 12 stations awaiting the issue of operational permits under the same terms.

When asked why there was an overlap in the decrees, Governor Sutiyoso said that he had to be flexible in applying regulations under current monetary conditions.

"If I asked them (the station's owners) to move they simply could not afford to at the present time."

Therefore, he said, it is better that they remain on the green plots temporarily, provided they make a positive contribution to the environment by building liquefied gas filling facilities.

"It is only temporary. At the right time, I will order them to return their sites to green plots as they are supposed to be." (edt)