Govt restarts nationwide unleaded gasoline campaign

Govt restarts nationwide unleaded gasoline campaign

Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government has restarted a nationwide campaign promoting the
use of unleaded gasoline, imploring suppliers to introduce the
fuel to outlets across the country by the end of the year.

The program was an earlier initiative of the Megawati Cabinet
in 2003. However, problems modifying oil refineries in Balongan,
West Java, and Cilacap, Central Java, to increase the production
of unleaded gasoline meant that the fuel is currently available
only in Greater Jakarta, West Java's Cirebon, Bali and the Batam
islands, accounting for about 25 percent of the country's
gasoline demand. Most retailers in these areas sell unleaded gas
at the same price as leaded fuel.

But with the work at the other oil refineries set for
completion in July, the availability of unleaded gas is expected
to increase greatly this year.

Announcing the move, State Minister of the Environment Rachmat
Witoelar cautioned that a major obstacle to realizing the program
lay in the funding.

"We call for all stakeholders, such as (state oil and gas
firm) Pertamina, to make this program a success. It may well be
expensive to carry out this program, but the health costs and the
damage to the younger generation and to children are far higher.
We shouldn't take (leaded gasoline) for granted," Rachmat said.

It is estimated the government would have to pay an extra 10
percent in subsidies or around Rp 10 trillion (US$1.06 billion)
to producers to provide a nationwide supply of unleaded gasoline,
the equivalent of an Rp 120 a liter of gasoline.

The modification of refineries, meanwhile, costs between
US$180 million and $200 million.

However, activists insist the costs the nation pays in health
care and the loss of income from people made sick or
incapacitated by pollution is much higher.

Ahmad Safrudin of the Committee for Leaded Gasoline
Eradication (KPBB) said research in 1999 estimated the health and
social costs borne by residents due to air pollution caused by
leaded gasoline in the city of Bandung amounted to $106 million.

"In Bandung ... around 30 percent of students below 18 years
old have lead content in their blood higher than the safe limit
of 10 micrograms a deciliter. That's very alarming as (high
levels) can cause IQ point reductions, symptoms of autism and
respiratory problems," Ahmad said.

Existing leaded gasoline production also hampered the
development of the automotive industry here, as most imported
vehicles ran on unleaded gasoline, he said.

Ahmad said there were other alternatives than refinery
modification, if this was thought to be too costly.

"We can import the High Octane Mogas Component (HOMC), which
is the main ingredient for making unleaded gasoline. If that is
still too expensive, we could instead buy other additives to
produce unleaded gasoline," he said.

Surendra Suresh from the United Nations Environmental Program
(UNEP) said the technology to produce unleaded gasoline was
already available in Asia.

Indonesia and Laos are the only ASEAN member countries that
have still not provided car owners nationwide with unleaded
gasoline.

Other ASEAN countries have provided motorists with incentives
in the form of 25 percent tax reductions for vehicles using
unleaded gasoline.

"It's not the technology that's inhibiting (the program), but
lack of awareness and political will," Suresh said.