TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Industry players welcome lower gas price
Property developer Jababeka welcomes the government's plan to cut gas prices for the industrial sector to between US$5 and $6 per million British thermal unit (mmbtu), which is expected to take effect in January 2017.
Change Size
Economic talks – President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo (left) and Vice President Jusuf Kalla lead a Cabinet meeting at the Presidential Office in Jakarta on Sept. 30. (Antara/Yudhi Mahatma)
P
roperty developer Jababeka welcomes the government's plan to cut gas prices for the industrial sector to between US$5 and $6 per million British thermal units (mmbtu), which is expected to take effect in January 2017.
Jababeka director Hyanto Wihadhi said the current price for gas for the industrial sector in Indonesia was from $9 to $11 mmbtu, far above prices in other countries, which were from $4 to $5 per mmbtu.
He further said natural gas accounted for about 70 percent of total industrial production costs. Lower gas prices would automatically slash production costs, improving competitiveness in the country, he said.
Hyanto also welcomed the government’s decision to prioritize gas supply to 10 instead of just seven industries. The 10 are fertilizers, petrochemicals, oleochemicals, steel, metal, ceramics, gloves, pulp and paper, food and beverages and footwear.
"Lowering gas prices to $6 per mmbtu will strengthen the competitiveness of our national industries, allowing them to become Indonesia’s economy drivers," Hyanto said in a workshop held in Jakarta on Thursday.
He said he also expected with lower gas prices Indonesia’s industry could grow at a faster rate than the rate of the country’s economic growth as a whole. Currently, Indonesian industries only grew at a rate of about 4.6 percent, less than economic growth, which was 5.04 percent in the first half of 2016. (ebf)
