Government lax in efforts to cut fuel use by vehicles

Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Although private vehicles and motorcycles guzzle close to half of the subsidized fuel in the country, the government continues to overlook the transportation sector in its short-term energy conservation efforts.

House of Representatives legislator Agusman Effendi said that the recent fuel crisis provided a good opportunity for the government to reform the transportation system in the country.

"A lot of fuel-saving initiatives in the transportation sector could be undertaken by the local administrations," Agusman, chairman of the House's Commission VII overseeing energy and mineral resources, said recently.

"The government should start working on concrete measures right away," he added.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono issued instruction no. 10/2005 a week ago on energy conservation. Since then, several measures, such air conditioner thermostats at higher settings in offices, have been promoted.

Unfortunately, the government tends to aim more at reducing electricity use (most of which is produced with giant diesel- powered generators) than directly targeting gasoline usage.

Data from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources showed that last year, that the public transportation sector consumed 28 million kiloliters (kl) of fuel (diesel and gasoline), or about 45 percent of the 62 million kiloliters used nationwide.

In the first six months of the year, Indonesia, which is forecast to have 550,000 new cars on its streets by the end of 2005, saw premium gasoline consumption reach 8.48 million kl, 12 percent higher than the estimated usage for the period.

One of the more controversial options suggested in order to decrease consumption was to raise the price of fuel used in the transportation sector, except for those used for the public transportation.

The Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) acknowledged that as long as the government did not utilize public transportation as the primary way to travel, excessive usage of fuel would continue.

"The policy (to raise fuel prices for private vehicles) is acceptable if the government improves public transportation means," YLKI executive Tulus Abadi said.

Reckless drivers, nearly broken-down buses, cramped trains and security issues were often mentioned as some of the more glaring reasons why people continue to use private vehicles to move around in most cities.

Other possible measures to decrease fuel consumption included setting progressive taxes for vehicles and obliging cars with engines larger than 2,500 cc to buy only unsubsidized fuel, as once suggested by Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso.

Jakarta's provincial mineral resources agency chief Peni Susanti that the policies were still being discussed.

"There is no binding regulation yet. For now we can only call on big-engine car owners to not buy subsidized fuel," said Peni. "Such a regulation is in the hands of the central government," she added.

At present, state oil and gas company PT Pertamina produces and sells two types of high quality fuel, namely Pertamax and Pertamax Plus, which are not subsidized.

The energy ministry's director general of oil and gas Iin Arifin Takhyan confirmed that there was not yet a regulation in place designed to slow fuel consumption and could not specify when any would be issued.

"We call on the people to use only enough that they really require," said Iin. "In the medium term, we aim to diversify fuel consumption and use more natural gas," he added.

Perhaps it is too soon to expect the government to draft the decrees needed to support concrete measures to reduce fuel usage in the transportation sector.

"One week should be enough," said Agusman.