Rabu, 24 September 2014

FATE OF GREEN CAR PROGRAM DEPENDS ON NEXT GOVERNMENT

By Andi Abdussalam
          Jakarta, Sept 24 (Antara) - About a year ago, the government's low-cost green car (LCGC) production program became a hot discourse following the rejection of Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo (Jokowi) who said it would worsen Jakarta's already serious traffic gridlock.
         He wrote to Vice President Boediono expressing his objection to the production of LCGC cars in Jakarta. Yet the government decided to go ahead with its inexpensive car production hoping it would help boost automotive exports and reduce the use of subsidized fuels.
         Now, Jokowi has won the presidential race and will be installed as the president of the country. Will the next government under Jokowi scrap the LCGC program? How will automotive manufacturers who have produced LCGC cars respond to it if the program is scrapped?
    "Businesses are flexible. They flow like water. If here the tap is tightened, they will flow to other channels," Gaikindo Secretary General Noegardjito said here on Wednesday.

         He said that he would not make too many comments with regard to politics, including the possibility of the LCGC program to be stopped by the next government under the Joko Widodo - Jusuf Kalla administration.
         "We will follow the (next) government if it scraps the program. We have been manufacturing LCGC cars also because we are following the (current) government's program," he said.

 
         Noegardjito was referring to the green car production program which was launched sometime ago by the present government. The present government's tenure will end on October 20 this year.
         When Jokowi expressed objection to the program last year, citing traffic congestion as a reason, Vice President Boediono said  the public must not be prohibited from buying inexpensive cars, but to curb purchases the government could provide cheap, comfortable, and safe public transport facilities and also issue regulations that would reduce the number of cars on the streets, such as the imposition of an electronic road pricing (ERP) system.
         Boediono admitted that metropolitan cities in the country might be flooded with cheap cars after the policy is enacted, and this may worsen traffic congestion. However, he said the central government is ready to cooperate with regional governments to deal with such problems.
         So, the manufacturing of inexpensive green cars must move ahead, as it will help boost the development of industries at home.
         Further, the government is planning to make its LCGC cars into a main export product in the future, though analysts remain unsure of whether Indonesia could win over foreign markets for this car.
          Then chief economic minister Hatta Rajasa said Indonesia's low-cost green cars could become the country's main export commodity, in light of the opening of the region when the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) officially begins in 2015.
         "We would be grateful if Indonesia's low-cost green cars could become the nation's main export commodity. After all, Indonesia's automotive sector has continued to grow. I hope the ministry of industry will develop the LCGC into Indonesia's main export product," Hatta said.
         He noted that one of the goals of the Indonesian government, as the AEC begins in 2015, is to turn the country into a manufacturing base for certain products, such as automotive products and textiles, so that Indonesian products will be competitive in the free market.
        "Indonesia can serve as a production base for automotive products, textiles, and others. If we are careless, companies in the automotive industry will go to Thailand. The products must be exported so that they do not flood the domestic market," he added.
         Indonesia, he said, will be able to supply inexpensive green cars to other countries in the ASEAN region that require energy-efficient automobiles.
        "A significant number of LCGC may be exported because there will be a huge demand for environmentally friendly cars in other countries," said Hatta.
         Additionally, the birth of inexpensive green cars is expected to fulfill the government's dream of creating a national car, which will boost the development of automotive support industries and support the country's emission reduction target of 26 percent before 2020.
         "We are capable of becoming a base for the production of export commodities. This product may give rise to a national car, too. So, these cars are not only for export, since they will be able to assist in the development of supporting industries in the country. In addition, we have established an eco-friendly program to cut emissions by 26 percent before 2020," noted Hatta.
         But will the outgoing government's dreams come true? It will all depend on the decision of the next government under Jokowi, who once expressed objection to the production of inexpensive cars.
         The LCGC production program is now once again raised as a discourse.  This is because it was President-elect Jokowi who has earlier raised his plan to end the LCGC sale program. Acting head of the Fiscal Policy Agency of the Ministry of Finance Andin Hadiyanto said his agency was evaluating the LCGC policy because the program did not live up to the expectation.
         Initially, the government hoped that LCGC cars could help reduce subsidized fuel consumption because this car type would only use non-subsidized fuel. However, owners of these car still consume subsidized fuel, Andin Hadyanto said.
         The government has also hoped that CLCG would help boost automotive exports, projecting that manufacturers would be able to export 10 percent of the production. But his expectation has neither been fulfilled yet.
         In response to the possibility of the next government to scrap the plan, Noegardjito  said that Gaikindo will not have any problem.  Noegardjito said LCGC cars only had a 15 percent market share of the national automotive sales in the country. So, it has no big effect. There are still 85 percent of market shares controlled by others of other types.
         After all, he said,  the Gaikindo has not yet been informed of the Jokowi's policy regarding the production of the eco-friendly cars because the cabinet of his new government had not yet been set up.
        "The cabinet has not yet been established. We do not know yet the direction of its policy. But we will follow the government. We have been manufacturing LCGC cars also because we are following the government's program," he said.
        Gaikindo recorded that there were only 113,752 units of LCGC cars sold in the January - August 2014 period. Toyota Astra Motor's (TAM's) Agya car was the most salable car in the LCGC type, recording a sale of 46,399. ***2***

(T.A014/H-YH)


(T.SYS/A/BESSR/A/Yosep) 24-09-2014 23:18:

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