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.
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(T.A014/H-YH)
(T.SYS/A/BESSR/A/Yosep) 24-09-2014 23:18: |
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