Malang residents not ready for total kerosene conversion

Wahyoe Boediwardhana and Nurni Sulaiman ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Malang/Balikpapan   |  Fri, 04/04/2008 1:17 AM  |  The Archipelago

The Pertamina depot for the Greater Malang area has postponed its plan to cut back subsidized kerosene supplies to Malang city.

The decision follows a request from the mayor and municipal council, who claimed residents were not prepared for the fuel conversion program.

Head of the Private and National Fuel and Gas Association in Malang city, Rizal Pahlevi, said Pertamina had decided to continue supplying 68,000 kiloliters of kerosene to Malang monthly, which is 30 percent of normal demands.

"It (the cutback) would be implemented in stages until the end of this month at the latest. Pertamina has not set an exact date for when supplies will be stopped, but hopefully people are already prepared enough to be able to face it next month," Rizal told The Jakarta Post.

Kerosene usage for Malang city has reached 200,000 kiloliters per month. Pertamina has been slashing supplies to Malang since November last year because the city was included in the government-sanctioned kerosene-to-butane conversion program.

Malang municipal councillor Agus Sukamto said he had asked Pertamina to postpone the cutback as of April 1 because residents were not ready to shift to butane.

According to a city council Commission B member, the reduction should not be imposed just because Malang had received 186,924 free packages, each consisting of a stove and a 3-kilogram gas cylinder. He said the conversion process was not yet effective.

The process should start with kerosene stove makers, distributors, depots, retailers and users, he said.

"Residents have received the packages, but no one else has. They should first become familiar with them, so they can survive. We will summon Pertamina for an explanation," he said.

Malang mayor Peni Suparto said he had sent a letter to Pertamina asking it to delay the complete withdrawal of kerosene from the city.

"Many residents are still unprepared for a total withdrawal," Peni said.

On top of the kerosene scarcity in Malang, residents have also faced difficulties in obtaining 12-kilogram butane tanks.

Rizal said this was because of competition between household consumers and the industrial sector, such as big restaurants, and hotels, which had shifted from using 50-kilogram tanks to 12-kilogram tanks, due to the huge price disparities.

Butane is sold at Rp 4,250 (40 U.S. cents) per kg for household use, and Rp 8,000 for industrial use.

Meanwhile in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, kerosene buyers have taken to panic buying since the kerosene cutbacks were announced three months ago.

Residents are seen at kerosene depots in queues hundreds of meters long, especially during scheduled kerosene consignments, such as in Baru Tengah subdistrict in Balikpapan.

The shortage has affected not only poor households, but also small-scale entrepreneurs, such as speedboat operators and charcoal makers who depend on the fuel.

Yati, 45, a charcoal maker from Kariangau subdistrict, said she had not been able to earn a living for the past two months because of the kerosene shortage. She had to travel tens of kilometers to reach a depot in Baru Ulu subdistrict just to get a limited supply of kerosene, only enough for cooking.

Yati said she was not in favor of the government's fuel conversion program.

"I cannot sell charcoal if the government lifts the subsidy for kerosene. Butane is only for the privileged, while we commoners can only afford kerosene," she said.

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