12-30-2004, 05:33 AM
http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/interna.asp?idnews=26859
Relevant sentence, put in bold
=================================
ENVIRONMENT-INDONESIA:
Again, Gov't Pushes Back Phaseout of Leaded Gas
Richel Dursin
JAKARTA, Dec 30 (IPS) - - Promises are like babies: easy to make, hard to deliver,” goes an Indonesian saying.
That could very well apply to the promise the Indonesian government made a year ago - that the entire country would be free of leaded gasoline by early 2005.
- The government likes to break its promises,” said Ahmad Safrudin, chief executive of the Indonesian Lead Information Centre.
ôWe are not yet ready to implement next year the phaseout of leaded gasoline nationwide,” Yanuardi Rasudin, environment deputy minister for the environmental impact management on non-institutional sources, told IPS.
ôThe target is not realistic,” added Masnellyarti Hilman, environment deputy minister for technical infrastructure development for environmental management.
Lack of political will, vested interests of big business, financial constraints and increases in global oil prices are some of the major causes of the Indonesian government's failure to fulfill its promise of eliminating leaded gasoline by early 2005.
Indeed, Safrudin says, the progress of Indonesia's efforts to remove leaded gasoline over the years has been ‘'going up and down''.
In 1996, then President Suharto launched a programme to get rid of leaded fuel by 1999. In January 1998, Indonesia signed a letter of intent with the International Monetary Fund, stating that ôIndonesia would convert to clean energy, including unleaded gasoline, at the latest in December 1999.”
In 1999, the government made another commitment to phase out leaded fuel in 2003. However, this deadline was pushed back to 2005 due to the strong lobbying by suppliers of leaded gasoline, including Pertamina, the state-owned oil and gas company.
ôThere is an invisible hand that influences the government policy on the use of unleaded gasoline,” Safrudin said, referring to suppliers of leaded gasoline.
Indonesia is one of the last countries in Asia to still use leaded gasoline, a key factor in deterioriating air quality. About 90 percent of the world now uses unleaded gasoline.
According to the United Nations Environmental Programme, Jakarta is the world's third most polluted megacity after Mexico and Bangkok. High lead content in human blood, particularly children, can cause anaemia, lower intelligence, autism and irreversible damage to the kidney and liver.
While Indonesian remains an oil producer and exports part of its oil production, the revenue from its oil exports is no longer enough to pay for its oil imports -- which have increased rapidly during the past few years -- or investments in reducing harmful vehicular emissions.
Since March this year, Indonesia's crude oil imports have surpassed exports, making the country a net oil importer.
Oil and gas companies say that the government was ôtoo ambitious” in the first place when it targeted the phaseout throughout Indonesia next year.
In order to implement the phaseout, the government needs to invest in the upgrading of its refineries in Balongan in West Java and Cilacap in Central Java. It also has to import raw materials needed to produce unleaded gasoline, such as high-octane mogas components (HOMC) from Singapore and other countries.
ôWe don't have money to upgrade our refineries and import raw materials considering that we are in a difficult situation now,” Rasudin himself admits.
Representatives of oil and companies, however, also claim that the gasoline components necessary to substitute lead's octane levels, such as HOMC, are damaging to public health.
Isnaini, head of the oil processing division at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, said the HOMC substance being used in Indonesia has a high content of olefin and aromatic that could cause cancer.
Pertamina currently produces environmentally friendly unleaded gasoline that is already available in Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang, Bekasi, Cirebon, Batam and Bali. However, the supply of unleaded fuel is not enough.
It is estimated that every year, about 3 trillion rupiah (333 million U.S. dollars) is needed to meet the demand for unleaded gasoline.
The truth, Rasudin said, is that ôif we totally phase out leaded gasoline next year, we cannot meet the public's demand for unleaded gasoline.”
Many vehicles also still lack the catalytic converters required for cleaner emissions.
ôRealistically, the phaseout of leaded gasoline all throughout Indonesia would take place in 2006,” Rasudin added.
Still, experts say, the government cannot keep on delaying a decision to shift totally to unleaded gasoline.
Several studies have shown that dangerous levels of lead concentration are present in the blood of schoolchildren in Jakarta, Bandung in West Java and Surabaya in East Java.
ôIf we don't want our children to die slowly, we need to phase out the use of leaded gasoline,” said Puji Lestari, a lecturer at the Bandung Institute of Technology who conducted a study showing that schoolchildren and policemen in Bandung have blood lead levels high enough to potentially adversely affect cognitive development. (END/2004)
Relevant sentence, put in bold
=================================
ENVIRONMENT-INDONESIA:
Again, Gov't Pushes Back Phaseout of Leaded Gas
Richel Dursin
JAKARTA, Dec 30 (IPS) - - Promises are like babies: easy to make, hard to deliver,” goes an Indonesian saying.
That could very well apply to the promise the Indonesian government made a year ago - that the entire country would be free of leaded gasoline by early 2005.
- The government likes to break its promises,” said Ahmad Safrudin, chief executive of the Indonesian Lead Information Centre.
ôWe are not yet ready to implement next year the phaseout of leaded gasoline nationwide,” Yanuardi Rasudin, environment deputy minister for the environmental impact management on non-institutional sources, told IPS.
ôThe target is not realistic,” added Masnellyarti Hilman, environment deputy minister for technical infrastructure development for environmental management.
Lack of political will, vested interests of big business, financial constraints and increases in global oil prices are some of the major causes of the Indonesian government's failure to fulfill its promise of eliminating leaded gasoline by early 2005.
Indeed, Safrudin says, the progress of Indonesia's efforts to remove leaded gasoline over the years has been ‘'going up and down''.
In 1996, then President Suharto launched a programme to get rid of leaded fuel by 1999. In January 1998, Indonesia signed a letter of intent with the International Monetary Fund, stating that ôIndonesia would convert to clean energy, including unleaded gasoline, at the latest in December 1999.”
In 1999, the government made another commitment to phase out leaded fuel in 2003. However, this deadline was pushed back to 2005 due to the strong lobbying by suppliers of leaded gasoline, including Pertamina, the state-owned oil and gas company.
ôThere is an invisible hand that influences the government policy on the use of unleaded gasoline,” Safrudin said, referring to suppliers of leaded gasoline.
Indonesia is one of the last countries in Asia to still use leaded gasoline, a key factor in deterioriating air quality. About 90 percent of the world now uses unleaded gasoline.
According to the United Nations Environmental Programme, Jakarta is the world's third most polluted megacity after Mexico and Bangkok. High lead content in human blood, particularly children, can cause anaemia, lower intelligence, autism and irreversible damage to the kidney and liver.
While Indonesian remains an oil producer and exports part of its oil production, the revenue from its oil exports is no longer enough to pay for its oil imports -- which have increased rapidly during the past few years -- or investments in reducing harmful vehicular emissions.
Since March this year, Indonesia's crude oil imports have surpassed exports, making the country a net oil importer.
Oil and gas companies say that the government was ôtoo ambitious” in the first place when it targeted the phaseout throughout Indonesia next year.
In order to implement the phaseout, the government needs to invest in the upgrading of its refineries in Balongan in West Java and Cilacap in Central Java. It also has to import raw materials needed to produce unleaded gasoline, such as high-octane mogas components (HOMC) from Singapore and other countries.
ôWe don't have money to upgrade our refineries and import raw materials considering that we are in a difficult situation now,” Rasudin himself admits.
Representatives of oil and companies, however, also claim that the gasoline components necessary to substitute lead's octane levels, such as HOMC, are damaging to public health.
Isnaini, head of the oil processing division at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, said the HOMC substance being used in Indonesia has a high content of olefin and aromatic that could cause cancer.
Pertamina currently produces environmentally friendly unleaded gasoline that is already available in Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang, Bekasi, Cirebon, Batam and Bali. However, the supply of unleaded fuel is not enough.
It is estimated that every year, about 3 trillion rupiah (333 million U.S. dollars) is needed to meet the demand for unleaded gasoline.
The truth, Rasudin said, is that ôif we totally phase out leaded gasoline next year, we cannot meet the public's demand for unleaded gasoline.”
Many vehicles also still lack the catalytic converters required for cleaner emissions.
ôRealistically, the phaseout of leaded gasoline all throughout Indonesia would take place in 2006,” Rasudin added.
Still, experts say, the government cannot keep on delaying a decision to shift totally to unleaded gasoline.
Several studies have shown that dangerous levels of lead concentration are present in the blood of schoolchildren in Jakarta, Bandung in West Java and Surabaya in East Java.
ôIf we don't want our children to die slowly, we need to phase out the use of leaded gasoline,” said Puji Lestari, a lecturer at the Bandung Institute of Technology who conducted a study showing that schoolchildren and policemen in Bandung have blood lead levels high enough to potentially adversely affect cognitive development. (END/2004)