Economy class fares to be fixed till April

JAKARTA (JP): The government will not raise economy class public transportation fares before April, Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto said yesterday.

The minister, however, said that his ministry would provide soft loans to transportation cooperatives across the country to help them cope with the economic crisis that has resulted in soaring prices of automotive spare parts.

"The President also supported the policy not to increase tariffs for economy class transportation," Haryanto said after meeting with President Soeharto at the Bina Graha presidential office.

The minister said he had allocated Rp 12 billion (US$1.2 million) in soft loans, taken from the profits of state-owned companies under the ministry's supervision, to help the ailing transportation sector.

"This credit's annual interest rate is only six percent," the minister noted, adding that the fund would be disbursed next week.

Haryanto said he could understand the difficulties facing public transportation drivers considering the soaring prices of spare parts and lubricants but emphasized that strikes would only aggravate the situation.

He noted that only a few drivers had staged strikes across the country, but that they had forced other drivers to join the action.

Local authorities will persuade the drivers to resume operations, Haryanto said.

Thousands of drivers of minibuses as well as city and inter- city buses went on strike in Jakarta, Central Java, and Sumatra last week. They demanded that the government impose harsh penalties on hoarders that had made caused lubricant and parts prices to skyrocket.

The Organization of Land Transportation Owners (Organda) announced yesterday that it would impose a 25 percent hike on inter-city and inter-provincial bus fares. The new tariffs will come into effect today.

The chairman of Organda's Jakarta chapter, Aip Syarifuddin, guaranteed yesterday that the organization would not raise tariffs in Jakarta, including for air-conditioned buses, until March at the earliest.

The People's Consultative Assembly will hold its General Session in March. Government officials have repeatedly said they would not tolerate any hint of disruption to security during the session. A tariff hike would likely trigger public unrest, experts said.

"I have met with Organda leaders and they understood the government's policy (not to raise tariffs)," Haryanto said yesterday. (prb)