City has no map on CNG demand

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Although the mandatory use of compressed natural gas (CNG) for public transportation vehicles will come into effect in February, the city administration has no idea how many gas stations and how much CNG will be required.

"We have no idea where the additional gas stations must be constructed or how much CNG will be needed for public transportation vehicles," the head of air pollution control at the City Environmental Management Body, Yusiono Supalal, told The Jakarta Post over the weekend.

Article 20 of Bylaw No. 2/2005 on air pollution, which will be fully enforced beginning in February 2006, requires all public transportation vehicles in the city to use CNG in an effort to cut air pollution.

Yusiono, who is in charge of preparations for the implementation of the bylaw, said creating a map for the location of CNG stations in the city was not yet a priority because the administration was still concentrating on CNG use for some 200 buses that will be operated in two new busway corridors.

He was referring to Busway Corridor II, which will travel between the Pulogadung terminal in East Jakarta to Harmony in Central Jakarta, and Busway Corridor III, which will run from Harmony to the Kalideres bus terminal in West Jakarta. The two corridors are expected to be operational later this year.

In an action plan for the use of CNG by public transportation vehicles, the administration has tasked the City Mining Agency to carry out a survey of gas stations around the capital and the projected CNG demand. It is not clear when this survey will be completed.

Environmentalists are hopeful the city administration is serious about introducing the mandatory use of the more environmentally friendly CNG. They said determining the demand for CNG and mapping out the construction of new gas stations were important steps before moving ahead with other programs.

"We do not expect that all public transportation vehicles will already be using CNG by next year, but we hope the city will have began to create concrete programs on how to implement Bylaw No. 2/2005, particularly the mandatory use of CNG," the secretary- general of the Partnership Forum for Clean Emissions, Ahmad Safrudin, said.

According to the action plan on the use of CNG by public transportation vehicles, every public transportation vehicle in the city will be using CNG by 2010. However, the action plan does not provide specific steps for reaching this goal.

According to Yusiono, the city also has no plans to construct more gas stations, except for one in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, and one in Rawa Buaya, West Jakarta, which will supply the buses in the two new busway corridors.

He said the city would encourage state-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina and the other owners of some 17 gas stations in the city that used to supply CNG in the late 1980s, to reintroduce compressed natural gas.

However, gas station owners are reportedly reluctant to supply CNG because of doubts over how serious the city administration is about implementing the mandatory-use of CNG.

Of the 17 gas stations that provided CNG in the late 1980s, only about five are still operating because of a lack of demand. In 2001, there were some 7,000 vehicles using CNG, but currently there are only about 500 vehicles.