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Pertamina to add 14 regencies to single fuel price program
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Pertamina marketing director Muchamad Iskandar (right) and Pertamina marketing general manager for Maluku and Papua Made Adi Putra (left) pose with State-Owned Enterprises Minister Rini Mariani Soemarno on Nov. 20, after presenting the single fuel price program in Wamena, Papua. (JP/Anton Hermansyah)
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tate-owned oil and gas company Pertamina will include 14 more regencies in Maluku, North Maluku, West Papua and Papua on the single fuel price program to help people in remote areas purchase fuel at the same standardized price.
The program currently covers 54 remote areas.
"The challenge in applying the one price fuel policy is access, as mountainous regencies can only be reached by plane," Pertamina marketing director Muchamad Iskandar said on Monday in Wamena, Papua.
In Java, the price of subsidized gasoline (Premium) is Rp 6,550 (47 US cents) per liter, while in many remote areas, mostly in eastern Indonesia, Premium could cost Rp 40,000 per liter.
Read also: Pertamina says fuel prices need to be increased
Pertamina's marketing general manager for Maluku and Papua, Made Adi Putra, said a large plane could deliver 20,000 liters of fuel per trip to local airports. He added that for more remote areas, the same plane could only transport 3,500 liters of fuel per trip, and that flights were often disrupted by bad weather.
Made has called on local governments to help establish a distribution system to ensure the fair distribution of fuel.
"As we have limited carrying capacity, the program needs the support of regional governments. [For example] in Wamena, the regional government has applied a voucher system," he said.
He added that the provinces of Maluku, North Maluku, West Papua and Papua comprised 970 regencies with only 160 gas stations to serve them. (bbn)
