`Kerosene operation should continue'
`Kerosene operation should continue'
A'an Suryana and Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Poor residents are asking Pertamina and the city administration
to continue and expand its market operation to provide them with
price-controlled kerosene.
Residents of Rorotan subdistrict in Cilincing district, North
Jakarta, said on Tuesday the price of kerosene had risen well
above a city-set dealer price cap on the commodity.
The government increased the price of kerosene from Rp 600 to
Rp 700 per liter this year, while the city set a price cap of Rp
885 (9 US cents) per liter at the depot level -- or Rp 5 lower
than the national depot-level price cap.
However, the actual retail price is much higher.
"Before the price hike I bought kerosene from nearby shops for
Rp 1,000 per liter. But it soared to Rp 1,200 after the price
hike," a housewife, Ani, said.
She said she was grateful for the market operation, which
allowed residents to buy kerosene for Rp 885 per liter.
"It is just too bad that they limited the amount of kerosene
we could buy, because I really need more kerosene," she said.
During the market operation, organized by the city
administration in cooperation with state-owned oil and gas
company Pertamina and the Jakarta chapter of fuel retailer
association Hiswana Migas, people only were allowed to buy 10
liters of kerosene to ensure there were sufficient supplies for
everyone.
"A liter of kerosene is just enough for one day of cooking and
light," said one resident, who like many poor people uses
kerosene stoves and kerosene lamps.
Of 12,000 families, or about 26,000 people, in Rorotan
subdistrict, some 1,600 families are officially classified as
poor.
Another resident, Diah, said she usually paid Rp 1,200 per
liter for her kerosene, adding that not only was it expensive but
it was also hard to find.
The market operation was aimed at bringing down kerosene
prices, which went up following simultaneous increases in fuel
prices and electricity and telephone rates.
Baihaki Hakim, president director of Pertamina, said the
company intervened through the market operation in order to bring
kerosene prices back to normal.
"If we find parties are trying to increase the price of
kerosene, we will carry out a market operation and sell the
kerosene in line with the initial price, which will deter
speculators from unethically raising the price of kerosene," said
Baihaki during a visit to the market operation in Rorotan.
He said Pertamina had more than enough kerosene stocks to
conduct market operations for one month. However, he did not go
into detail about how many liters of kerosene Pertamina had at
its disposal.
He also did not say when another market operation might take
place in Rorotan or whether it would be possible for residents to
buy more than 10 liters per family.
The assistant chief of Cilincing district, Toni Sukanda, hoped
Pertamina would conduct market operations more frequently.
"In fact, we would expect Pertamina to provide kerosene
regularly, let's say twice a week," he said.
Baihaki said market operations would take place as needed to
keep prices down. "But we do not want to disrupt the business of
kerosene agents and depots by organizing market operations too
often."
Pertamina's Domestic Marketing Unit III, which oversees
Jakarta, Banten and West Java, allocated 610 kiloliters of
kerosene for the market operation, which started on Jan. 4.
Jakarta received 215 kiloliters of the kerosene, while in West
Java Pertamina provided 175 kiloliters of kerosene in Bandung, 60
kiloliters in Bekasi, 50 kiloliters in Subang and 45 kiloliters
in Bogor.
In Banten, 40 kiloliters were provided in Tangerang and
another 25 kiloliters in Serang.