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tate-owned gas company Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN) plans to build compressed natural gas (CNG) stations in the capital'€™s bus stations and install gas pipes in low-cost apartments.

Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama said after meeting with PGN officials on Thursday that the city administration would provide its land plots in bus terminals for CNG stations and push the company to also install gas pipes in low-cost apartments.

'€œCNG stations in terminals will encourage public transportation to switch to gas,'€ he said.

Some Transjakarta buses and around half of the capital'€™s bajaj (three-wheeled taxis) use CNG, which is cheaper and more environmentally friendly.

Natural gas is Rp 3,100 (25 US cents) per liter, compared to Pertamina'€™s Premium gasoline price of Rp 7,600 per liter and diesel price of Rp 6,600.

A lack of CNG stations is said to be behind vehicle owners'€™ reluctance to switch to gas.

Jakarta has seven CNG stations, which is far from adequate and long queues are normally found at the stations.

Ahok said the city administration had not specified which terminals would have CNG stations.

The governor also asked the company to install the gas pipes in low-cost apartments in Tambora, West Jakarta.

'€œThere is a pipe installation eight kilometers from the apartments but they must increase the pressure of the gas to reach the apartment,'€ he said.

Ahok said PGN planned to install pipes to supply cooking gas to eight more apartments.

'€œWe want them to install the pipes in the Daan Mogot apartments in West Jakarta and the Muara Baru apartments in North Jakarta,'€ he said.

The capital'€™s Industry and Energy Agency head, M. Haris Pindratno, said the first four CNG stations to be built by PGN would be in Pulo Gebang and Cililitan, East Jakarta; Ancol, North Jakarta; and Rawa Buaya, West Jakarta.

Haris said he was optimistic that the number of CNG stations this year would significantly increase as other companies like state-owned oil and gas firm Pertamina had also promised to build 49 such stations around the city.

'€œThere are 402 fuel stations whose land plots can also be used for CNG stations,'€ he said.

He said he targeted the city to have 50 CNG stations in 2015.

'€œWe can encourage public transportation to switch to CNG if we have enough stations,'€ he said.

In addition, city-owned developer company PT Jakarta Propertindo (Jakpro) is also tasked with building 10 CNG stations and 10 mobile refueling units.

Jakpro finance director Erlan Hidayat previously said that the company was in the process of acquiring three inactive CNG stations in Kramat Jati, Tanah Merdeka and Kampung Rambutan in East Jakarta.