Unleaded fuel now in Jakarta gas stations

JAKARTA (JP): Four tanker trucks distributed, for the first time, unleaded fuels to several gas stations in the city on Sunday, marking the official launch of the government's drive to remove leaded gasoline from the capital.

The tankers, bearing the logos "Premium TT" and "Premix TT" -- short for tanpa timbal or "unleaded" -- were officially seen off by city Governor Sutiyoso at a ceremony at the City Hall that was attended by two ministers and a number of high-ranking officials.

State Minister of the Environment Sonny Keraf, who was present at the launching ceremony, described the program as a small achievement, considering that it was very late in being realized and was only being implemented in the capital.

"We've been struggling to do this since 1993. However, this is an important step, and it's amazing that we can see it through in this time of crisis," he said.

Nevertheless, he warned that the removal of lead from premium gasoline and premix would not automatically clean the air.

"There is still diesel fuel and other pollutants that also contaminated the air. We're working on that," Sonny asserted.

Something that is missing in the program to phase out leaded gasoline is, apparently, promotion as many residents are still unaware of the program.

Even many gas station attendants are not familiar with the idea of unleaded gasoline either.

"I've heard about it. Well, as long as it's not going to make the gasoline prices go up again, it's fine with me," said an attendant at Semanggi gas station in South Jakarta.

Ahmad Safrudin, chief executive of the non-governmental organization The Committee for Leaded Fuel Eradication, admitted that publicity for the project was still lacking.

"We've distributed over 40,000 stickers but there are over 2 million vehicles in the capital. We've also made a TV advertisement, but the publicity is still limited," he told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Sonny Keraf, meanwhile, said that publicity was probably not that essential.

"The most important thing is that lead has been removed from gasoline all over the city," he told the Post.

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro, who was also on hand at the launching ceremony, said that the government had decided to subsidize unleaded gasoline so that the fuel price would remain the same at Rp 1,450 (about 13 U.S. cents) per litter for premium gasoline and Rp 1,900 per litter for premix.

Purnomo said that the government had allocated some Rp 300 billion (about US$27 million) for one-year's subsidy under the program.

The subsidy included money to import the High Octane Mogas Component (HOMC) which replaces the lead.

Purnomo further said that it would need some 12,000 barrels of HOMC everyday to produce 8,000 kiloliters of premium and premix to meet the capital's daily consumption of gasoline.

"The HOMC is imported from Saudi Arabia because we're still unable to produce HOMC by ourselves. But hopefully, we'll be able produce it soon," said Purnomo.

The unleaded gasoline, he added, was produced in the state- owned oil and gas company Pertamina's refinery in Balongan, West Java, which can produced up to 125,000 barrels of fuel everyday.

Purnomo said that the capital was a pilot project for the program to replace unleaded gasoline all over the country, which it is hoped will take place on Oct. 1, 2003.

"The government is now trying to find the money for the project. It will take some US$250 million to replace leaded gasoline," he said.

Lead is added to fuel to boost performance, and is used because it is one of the cheapest choices available for doing this. However, it causes health and environmental problems, and retards intelligence in children.

It is estimated that the health costs related to leaded gasoline amount to at Rp 2 trillion annually. (hdn)