Motor Vehicles and Parts News
- Indonesian automakers cast doubt over fuel limit plan
Date: 19-Nov-2007 Sources: (Xinhua Online)
JAKARTA, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Indonesian government's plan to limit the sale of subsidized fuel products is not likely to apply in the near future because of infrastructural constraints, the auto-makers association warned Friday.
The government has revealed a plan to restrict private car owners from buying cheap fuel products to encourage them to buy gasoline and diesel fuel with higher octane level in an effort to slash state subsidy amid soaring global oil prices.
But the Indonesian Automotive Industries Association (Gaikindo) said the plan was elusive because high-octane fuel products are available in few gas stations.
State-run oil firm Pertamina, which dominates the country's fuel retail business, sells both subsidized fuel and non-subsidy products named Pertamax and Pertamax-Plus.
'The main problem is whether Pertamina is ready, whether Pertamax and Pertamax Plus are available in its fuel outlets outside Jakarta,' Gaikindo secretary-general Freddy Sutrisno was quoted by leading news website Detikcom as saying.
'Or shall we have to bring jerrycans when traveling out of the city?' he said
Freddy said automakers did not mind producing cars suitable only to high-octane fuel, they even felt obliged to provide vehicles with lower emission.
But high-octane fuel products, which do not get state subsidy, are available only in the Greater Jakarta and provincial capitals, preventing manufacturers from exclusively producing such vehicles, he said.
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