Unleaded gasoline hits Catch-22
Unleaded gasoline hits Catch-22
By P. Prasetyohadi
JAKARTA (JP): When it comes to using environmental friendly fuels, Indonesia is falling behind its Southeast Asian neighbors in spite of its status as the region's largest oil exporter.
Pertamina last August introduced unleaded gasoline to the public, but despite compelling reasons for motorists to turn to unleaded gasoline, the state oil company with a monopoly in gasoline distribution has found few takers.
Experts believe the unleaded gasoline has fallen into the classic "chicken or egg" dilemma: motorists are reluctant to make the switch because there are too few stations dispensing unleaded fuel. Pertamina is phasing in the Super TT, as the unleaded gasoline is called, slowly because there are too few consumers.
F. Suseno, secretary-general of the Indonesian Automotive Industry Association, attributes the slow public acceptance to weak marketing strategy.
"The distribution of unleaded gasoline in Jakarta is not widespread enough," Suseno told The Jakarta Post. "What is even worst is that unleaded gasoline sells for Rp 1,000 (44 U.S. cent) a liter, compared to Rp 700 (30 cents) for premium (ordinary leaded gas)."
There are only seven gas stations that sell unleaded fuel in all of Jakarta, a major inconvenience for motorists bold enough to make the switch, he pointed out.
Suseno said as far as car manufacturers are concerned, there are no real problems with the introduction of unleaded gasoline.
Most Japanese cars produced after 1983 are fitted with engines which can take both leaded and unleaded fuels. Consumers can make the switch without having to pay extra, he said.
Some additional costs will be incurred when manufacturers begin to produce car engines solely for unleaded gasoline, because they will have to install catalytic converter kits, he said.
Adirizal Nizar, a director of PT Toyota Astra Motor, confirmed that there won't be any immediate increase in car prices when consumers switch to unleaded gasoline. There will be an increase when car manufacturers begin producing engines that can only take unleaded gasoline, Adirizal said.
Neither Suseno nor Adirizal were willing to say how much additional costs car buyers will have to pay for such engines.
Well prepared
Pertamina is actually well prepared to supply the Indonesian market, or Jakarta at the very least, with unleaded gasoline.
A $2 billion refinery plant in Balongan, West Java, which came on stream last May, can produce low-leaded fuel. Most of its output, in keeping with the name Export-Oriented I (Exor I), is destined for overseas markets.
For now, Pertamina is only supplying 50,000 liters of unleaded gasoline for the Jakarta market. Unleaded gasoline will be available outside Jakarta starting in 1999, and it should become available throughout the country by 2003.
Judosumardjo, Pertamina's director of provision and marketing, said Indonesia had been slow in introducing unleaded gasoline.
He admitted that the slow public response to unleaded gasoline had to do with its price, noting that in other countries, unleaded gasoline is cheaper than leaded gasoline.
Margana Koesoemadinata, director of air pollution control at the Environmental Impact Management Agency, argued that unleaded gasoline should be made cheaper, or more attractive, then leaded gasoline, if it is to succeed.
Various seminars have been held about the dangers of leaded gasoline to people's health and countless articles have been written on the subject. They do not seem to have any impact on policy makers or motorists.
State Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, in a seminar last year, said air pollution is responsible for the deaths of 15 percent of Indonesian children under five and for 6.2 percent of all deaths in Indonesia. In Jakarta the rate doubles to nearly 12.6 percent.
Haryoto Kusnoputranto of the Public Health School of the University of Indonesia said the content of lead in the air in most parts of Jakarta has reached 1.2 ug/m3, well above the internationally acceptable level of 1 ug/m3.
Haryoto said the impact on people's health is staggering: an increase in the number of people with hypertension, coronary heart and cardiovascular diseases, and a decline in children's intelligence.
Anxiety problems
Last month, a University of Indonesia survey found disturbing statistics about Jakarta's police officers who spend most of their days trying to instill traffic order in the streets. A total of 41.2 percent of 300 officers questioned were inclined to suffer from certain psychopathic personality traits and as many as 21.8 percent of them were suffering from anxiety problems, the study said.
Pertamina might well draw some lessons from its unsuccessful experience with gaseous fuel, regarded as a "clean-air fuel", for motor vehicles, in planning its strategy for unleaded gasoline.
Launched in the mid 1980s, the project involved PT Blue Bird, Jakarta's leading private taxi company. Now nearly 10 years later, Blue Bird is about the only taxi company that has cars which run on liquefied petroleum gas.
Now, 1,450 Blue Bird vehicles are fitted to run on gaseous fuel, and many drivers are having problems operating in the city because the gas tank can only take half as much as ordinary gasoline, and there are only 12 stations selling gaseous fuels.
"That makes our drivers less mobile. And they have to spend a long time queuing to refuel," Trismawan, PT Gas Biru president said. "If they had a choice, drivers would opt for cars that run on ordinary gasoline," he added.
"Drivers need to be as mobile as possible to pick up and drop passengers," Blue Bird operation director Ateng Aryono said.
"I have to refill twice a day instead of only once. And I have to drive a long way just to find a station that sells gaseous fuel," a Blue Bird taxi driver complained.
Trismawan said the project might succeed if there are enough stations selling gaseous fuel because gaseous fuel has its advantages.
Car engines which are run on gas are cleaner and last longer. The price of Rp 200 (8 U.S. cents) for a liter equivalent is also cheaper.