Efficiency of rice distribution system questioned

JAKARTA (JP): A city councilor questioned the efficiency of the capital's rice distribution system on Monday as prices continued to skyrocket despite a reportedly ample amount of rice in stock.

Djafar Badjeber, head of the council's Commission B for economic affairs, complained that prices continued to rise even though the city's branch of the State Logistics Agency (Dolog Jaya) was supplying about 5,000 metric tons of rice a day through market operations -- more than twice the city's estimated daily consumer demand of about 2,250 tons.

"There must be something wrong in the distribution system if the prices cannot be controlled. Dolog Jaya must implement a tight control system to prevent speculators from selling rice they take from Dolog at higher prices to make huge profits," he told reporters when visiting Dolog Jaya's warehouse in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, on Monday.

He also said there was a possibility that rice was being transported out of the city as soon as it was brought out of the warehouse, thereby causing prices to soar.

Dolog Jaya's head, Achmad Zawawi, said his office had set a ceiling price of Rp 2,050 per kilogram, but that in reality, prices had risen to as high as Rp 3,000 per kilogram. High quality rice is now selling for as much as Rp 5,000 per kilogram.

The agency reported that it held about 465,000 tons of rice as of Monday after it had received 6,000 tons of rice from China.

Dolog Jaya launched market operations in the city last Thursday to stabilize rice prices. Its last market operations took place in May.

"In order to help stabilize prices, we have assigned 260 Dolog partners (distributors) to carry out the market operation in markets or housing complexes throughout the city," he said.

In total, Dolog Jaya has about 3,000 distributors in Jakarta.

He admitted that the agency did not have the ability to monitor whether violations in distribution operations were occurring.

"That's why we urge people to give us information on any violations in the distribution of rice. We will revoke our cooperation agreements with distributors found guilty of any violations.

"We have requirements for those who wish to become our distributors. They must be able to work independently and distribute rice throughout the city below the ceiling price set by Dolog Jaya," he said.

Djafar said that if Dolog Jaya could not control its rice distribution, it should ask help from security forces.

"I think the city administration can ask the Jakarta Military Command to deploy troops at the city's gateways to prevent rice from being transported out of Jakarta," he said. (ind)