T

he city administration and state-owned gas distributor PT Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN) have teamed up to build compressed natural gas (CNG) stations and expand the gas distribution network in the capital.

Members of PGN'€™s board of directors met with Governor Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo at City Hall on Thursday as a follow-up to Jokowi'€™s visits to PGN'€™s office last year.

The two parties previously signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on distribution of CNG for transportation and liquified natural gas (LNG) for households.

PGN president director Hendi Prio Santoso said on Thursday that the directors and governor had agreed to expedite a plan to build eight new CNG stations and expand the LNG distribution network in the capital.

'€œJakarta will become a role model as a '€˜natural gas city'€™. Not only industry, but transportation and households will convert to [natural] gas,'€ Hendi said.

PGN director for business Jobi Triananda Hasjim elaborated on the details, saying that this year, the state-owned firm and city-owned company PT Jakarta Energi Utama, a subsidiary of city-owned developer PT Jakarta Propertindo, targeted to build eight CNG stations, two of which will be mobile refueling units (MRUs) stationed at Lapangan Banteng in Central Jakarta and Ragunan in South Jakarta.

'€œWe will build on land belonging to the city administration in different locations, including in Ketapang, Ancol, Pluit, Kalideres '€” which will have two stations and Pulogebang. One MRU will be stationed in
Ragunan near a Transjakarta bus stop,'€ Jobi said.

PGN operates 10 CNG stations and MRUs across the capital located in Pinang Ranti, Kampung Rambutan, Perintis Kemerdekaan, Rawa Buaya, Daan Mogot, Kramat Jati, Pemuda, Pesing, Kalideres, Tendean and the National Monument (Monas).

The expansion of the gas distribution infrastructure is targeting public and private vehicles, as well as households.

'€œ[Jokowi] challenged us to expand our LNG distribution network by adding up to 7,000 or 8,000 households this year. We are targeting vertical housing as we can cover hundreds to thousands of households in one area at once,'€ Jobi said.

PGN and the city administration also agreed to make planned low-cost apartments their priority in the expansion program.

'€œWe will prioritize Klender and Marunda low-cost apartments. Whenever the Jakarta Housing Agency builds a low-cost apartment, we will follow,'€ Jobi went on.

He said the expansion of LNG distribution could help households save on costs, as well as reduce traffic, as people would not have to run around the capital distributing liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tanks. '€œEach household usually only pays less than Rp 100,000 (US$8.46) per month for LPG,'€ he said.

Jokowi said the expansion was also aimed at improving the city'€™s environment.

'€œUsing [natural] gas is more environmentally friendly and affordable too,'€ he said.