The life of the smoke-belching bajaj (motorized pedicab) has been extended because its greener brother, the gas-powered bajaj has not taken over the city yet.

GREEN MACHINES: A driver cleans his new bajaj, which is powered by compressed natural gas (CNG), in this photo file. The administration is phasing out the old bajaj, replacing it with a quieter and cleaner one. (JP/J. Adiguna) 

The distribution of bajaj powered by compressed natural gas (CNG) has been hampered because of a government policy on tax.

Despite setting a target to distribute 500 CNG-powered bajaj each month, the government issued a policy classifying the new bajaj as a luxury item, thereby increasing the tax for the units.

"Previously, the tax for CNG bajaj was only 30 percent, now it is 45 percent because the government said the vehicle was imported from India and thus subject to another tax," said Henda Sunugroho, head of the traffic monitoring division at the Jakarta Transportation Agency.

There is an additional 10 percent tax because it is classified as a luxury item, Henda said.

Procedural hurdles to acquiring a CNG bajaj present further problems, forcing drivers to wait in uncertainty.

"Six hundred units have been operating since June. An additional 50 units are unable to operate because of incomplete vehicle registration. We have 120 units in total still pending due to procedural technicalities," said Tariono, the head of the bajaj association in East Jakarta.

Among the procedural hurdles is a required evaluation of each CNG tank, which is said to take at least three weeks. Obtaining licenses and other documentation regarding ownership present further barriers.

The 120 are waiting for activation of their public transportation license, which is taking a long time, Tariono said.

"We have been waiting for more than a month now. There are about 5,000 bajaj drivers in line to get a CNG bajaj,"

Some bajaj drivers have acquired the new vehicle.

Rojat, a CNG bajaj driver, said the new vehicle was friendlier to the environment than the regular orange ones. He ordered five additional units in March 2007.

"No smoke is emitted and the customers like that. They also like that the CNG bajaj is quieter," he said.

CNG bajaj, therefore, are more competitive than the gasoline ones, he said.

But the red tape has forced Rojat, other bajaj drivers and customers to wait.

"It has been two years," said Syamsudin, a driver who has ordered an additional 17 CNG bajaj.

The driver, who already possessed 13 CNG bajaj said customers preferred the new vehicles to the regular orange ones.

"My friends enjoy driving CNG bajaj. Once they drive it, they don't want to drive the old bajaj," he said.

Syamsudin said customers were ordering to be picked up by CNG bajaj, and because of the vehicle, he had collected more customers.

"I was going to continue driving the old bajaj, but I changed my vehicle to the CNG bajaj because it is environmentally friendly," he said.

Old bajaj squander a lot of fuel, which has become a concern for bajaj drivers.

"My old bajaj uses 8 liters of gasoline each day," said Daroni, a bajaj driver who usually operates around Pasar Slipi, West Jakarta.

"I really want to have a CNG bajaj, but I heard the procedure to acquire it is rather exhausting."

Tariono said he objected to the government's classification of the new bajaj which meant it was subject to a luxury tax.

"It doesn't make sense that a three-wheeled vehicle with a canvas roof be classified as a luxury item," he said. "A bajaj is not a train, bus or car.

"The government wants us to support the Blue Sky Program, yet they make it hard for us to get the CNG bajaj."

The Blue Sky Program is an environmental conservation program that was launched in Indonesia in 1996.

The aim of the program is to reduce air pollution in several big cities, including Jakarta, across the country.

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