Highly leaded fuel still in use: Study

Highly leaded fuel still in use: Study

Tb. Arie Rukmantara, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Cars in three out of 10 major cities surveyed in the country are
still being supplied with leaded gasoline, which posses a threat
to people's health and can stunt mental development, a report
said.

A report on fuel monitoring in 10 major cities in the country
-- Bandung, Batam, Denpasar, Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Medan,
Makassar, Palembang, Surabaya and Semarang -- shows that the
supply of gasoline in Palembang, Makasar and Medan contains high
levels of lead.

Lead is a substance that can cause respiratory problems,
hypertension and heart attacks. It can also stunt children's
intellectual development.

"The maximum threshold of lead in gasoline should be 0.013
gram per liter (g/L). But based on the monitoring results, most
of the gasoline being supplied in Indonesia, has a level that
exceeds the threshold," said Ahmad Safrudin, chairman of the
Joint Committee for the Leaded Gasoline Phase-out (KPBB) program
at a public presentation of the report results on Tuesday.

The report of the monitoring, which took samples of fuel from
45 gasoline stations in the 10 cities, showed that gasoline
samples taken in Palembang contained 0.58 g/L of lead, Makassar
(0.272 g/L) and Medan (0.213 gr/L).

It also shows that the content of sulfur in diesel fuel sold
in the 10 cities reached more than 500 parts per million (ppm),
the acceptable maximum limit.

"It means that people are still using low quality fuel, which
posses a threat to air quality," said Ahmad.

State Minister of the Environment Rachmat Witoelar said he was
ashamed that Indonesia had not been able to scrap the production
of leaded gasoline, while 80 percent of countries in the world
were already using lead-free gasoline.

"I'm ashamed to say that we keep on failing to meet the
deadline to scrap leaded gasoline. Therefore, I'm determined to
set the final deadline...the country should be free of leaded
gasoline by early next year," he said.

The phasing out of leaded gasoline was first ordered by then
president Soeharto in 1996, setting 1999 as the deadline.

However, due to the financial crisis in 1997, the government
moved the deadline to 2003.

Then, arguing that there were problems in modifying the
Cilacap and Balongan oil refineries that would supply unleaded
fuel for the whole nation, the government again moved the
deadline to January 2005.

Rachmat said that the delay was caused by a lack of funds to
finance the process of producing unleaded gasoline.

A deputy of the state minister of the environment, Ridwan D.
Tamin, said that the government needed to invest Rp 2 trillion
(over $199 million) per month to supply 11 million kilo liters of
unleaded gasoline for the whole country.

Ahmad said that the lack of funds should not be an excuse for
the government's failure to fulfill its promise to ensure that
its people breathe clean air.

"A study by the Asian Development Bank in 1998 said that air
pollution has cost the people US$180 million in health costs. It
is predicted to cost $400 million in 2015," he said.