State-owned bus company PPD operates 40 gas-fueled buses

JAKARTA (JP): State-owned bus company Perum PPD began operating 40 gas-fueled buses in the city yesterday.

Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto said they were the first of 700 gas-fueled buses to replace diesel buses to reduce pollution.

The company spent US$40 million on the 40 buses and its natural gas station in Tangerang, West Java, in a project sponsored by businesswoman Siti Hardijanti Rukmana.

The 700 buses are being supplied by Hungary's Ikarus company.

PPD has tested three of the buses on city routes.

PPD's president, Dwi Wahyono, said the 40 buses would serve as air-conditioned express buses on the Blok M-Kota and Grogol-Pasar Baru routes.

Operating the buses was 30 percent more efficient than using diesel buses, he said.

He estimated they could be up to 70 percent more efficient when the company used its own natural gas station.

State Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja said earlier that the "Blue Sky" program for clean air was getting more support from the government and the private sector.

The country has 2,934 taxis and 300 private cars using compressed natural gas (CNG) and 13 natural gas stations.

Eleven of the stations are in Jakarta and two are in Surabaya, East Java.

Up to 800 taxis and five private cars in Jakarta use liquid petroleum gas.

The government hopes to set up five more CNG stations: in Jakarta, in Medan, North Sumatra, in Palembang, South Sumatra, and in Cirebon and Cikampek, West Java.

The government hopes the country will have 500 stations serving liquid petroleum gas by 2001. It only has 50 now. (03/icn)