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Politics : Rat's Nest - Chronicles of Collapse -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (1031)	7/13/2005 8:04:28 PM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24213

Official wants subsidy axed, alternative energy promoted The Jakarta Post, Jakarta To support the government's intention to promote the use of alternative fuels, the subsidy for petroleum-based fuel should be eliminated, a government official said on Tuesday. Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources' Director for Oil and Gas Processing and Marketing Erie Soedarmo said that one of the goals of the national energy policy was to bring the price of energy, especially fossil fuel, to market levels by 2010. "But the policy also maintains the subsidy for less-affluent people," he told an international conference on Indonesia's automotive industry and global environmental challenges. Erie believes that cutting the fuel subsidy would help accelerate energy diversification, which was also one of the targets in the national energy policy. In his paper, titled National Energy Policy and Regulation on Downstream Oil and Gas Sector, he mentions that the policy also includes market restructuring for energy supply. At present, the power and industry sectors buy petroleum-based fuel at market prices, while the service, transportation and household sectors purchase it at subsidized prices. According to the policy, 15 years from now, households will be the only remaining sector purchasing fuel at government-regulated prices, while others will pay market prices. He said that if petroleum-based fuel was sold at market prices, the private sector would soon look for alternatives. In the search for the most suitable alternative fuel, Erie said that businesses and people were encouraged to use all kinds of energy resources, such as natural gas, coal, geothermal and other renewable resources. However, he suggested that in the short term, compressed natural gas should replace petroleum-based fuel for transportation. He said that to encourage people to shift to gas, the central government and provincial administrations needed to issue regulations. Erie said that other provinces should follow Jakarta, which had issued a city bylaw requiring public transportation and administration vehicles to use compressed natural gas in an effort to reduce emissions in the capital. Early this year, the Jakarta administration issued City Bylaw No.2/2005 on air pollution control, which comes into effect next year. "There should be a rule obligating everybody to look for other fuel resources," he said. Meanwhile, Indonesian Automotive Industry Association chairman Bambang Trisulo said the government should announce a plan on switching to alternative energy immediately. "Whether bio-diesel or gas, it should be officially announced," he told The Jakarta Post. On Monday, State Minister of Research and Technology Kusmayanto Kadiman told the same conference that the government would formulate a regulation to produce bio-fuel refined from crude palm oil. (006) thejakartapost.com