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Taxis remain in the dark on fuel pump problems
More cars in Greater Jakarta are stalling due to blocked fuel pumps
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ore cars in Greater Jakarta are stalling due to blocked fuel pumps. While the cause officially remains a mystery, many car owners suspect the problem lies in the low quality of the fuel.
Major taxi operator Blue Bird Group reported that, as of Monday last week, the company had found fuel pump failures in 1,200 of their cars.
But, the number increased sharply in just a few days. "As of Friday, the number of cars with fuel pump problems reached 1,400," Blue Bird's public relations Teguh Wijayanto told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
Teguh said the fuel pump jams began June this year.
"Normally, the pumps last for 90,000 kilometers, but in recent cases, the fuel pumps are damaged after driving between only 4,000 and 15,000 kilometers," he said.
Teguh added that many drivers informed that a dark liquid had been found in the taxi's fuel filters, but quickly added that Blue Bird had not found a definite cause of the problem.
"We recommend the government form an independent team to investigate this problem," he said.
For its regular taxi fleet, Blue Bird operates Toyota Limos produced from 2007 onward.
Similar problems have also been reported by other taxi operators such as Taxiku and Express Group.
The taxi uses Premium gasoline distributed by state oil and gas firm PT Pertamina for their fuel.
Pertamina, however, has strongly denied allegations that the problems had been caused by the quality of the company's Premium gasoline.
Pertamina's corporate secretary Toharso said the company had checked its Premium gasoline immediately after the rumor began circulating.
"The results show that Pertamina's Premium has met standardized specifications," he said.
Toharso added the standardized sulfur concentration in the Premium was 0.05 percent at most, while the checked sample showed that Pertamina's Premium only contained between 0.01 to 0.03 percent of sulfur.
Toharso said Blue Bird purchased Pertamina's premium in two ways. First, Blue Bird taxi drivers can buy the fuel at regular fuel stations. Blue Bird also buys massive amounts of the Premium fuel, storing and distributing it at the taxi depot.
Toharso said no problem had been found in Premium gasoline samples from regular fuel stations, but the company was still waiting for the results of Premium samples from Blue Bird's storage tank.
"The tank is managed and maintained by the company," he said.
Pertamina's president director Karen Agustiawan said the rumor had tarnished Pertamina's image and that she was considering taking legal action against those who had spread the rumors.
