Jakarta, Sept 10 (Antara) - Young entrepreneurs have asked the government to investigate the alleged involvement of the mafia in gas distribution that causes its price to soar two-fold when it reaches downstream industries.
The upstream industry gas price is only about US$4 per million metric British thermal unit (mmbtu). But when it reaches downstream industries, it rises to about US$9 to US$14 per mmbtu.
In Singapore, it is only US$4 to US$5 per mmbtu.
The other factor that cause prices to increase is the monopolistic business practices that create brokerage.
The monopolistic practice in gas distribution triggers the presence of brokerage and high gas price for the industry in the country, according to the Central Board of the Indonesian Young Entrepreneurs Association (Hipmi).
"We found monopoly in gas distribution and incompetent gas brokers," Chairman of Hipmi for Energy Affairs Andhika Anindyaguna stated in a release in Jakarta, Wednesday (September 7).
In the meantime, the government, through the Ministry of Industry, is trying to offer a special price to industries in an effort to reduce the soaring gas price in the downstream sector.
Industry Minister Airlangga Hartarto will seek cheaper gas prices in the industrial area to make it more competitive when compared to neighboring countries.
"A proposal for cheaper gas prices has been set for 10 sectors and the industrial area because it has been part of the General Plan for National Energy (RUEN) and has been discussed with the president," Airlangga said after a meeting with the National Energy Board in Jakarta Wednesday.
Based on Presidential Decision No. 40/2016, the government is planning to cut prices for industries by providing them with a certain gas price, especially for commercial service, manufacturing and electricity generating industry subscribers, among others.
The price cuts will be given by the National Gas Distributors (PGN) after receiving recommendations from the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry (ESDM).
Industries can enjoy the price cut after making a proposal to the industry ministry.
The industry ministry will then make a recommendation on the special gas price to the ESDM.
North Sumatra is the province which serves as a pilot project of the program where, in the first phase, industries will get the special gas price. The gas rebate will be provided in two phases.
In the first phase, running from January to June 2016, the government will provide a cut of US$1.09 per mmbtu and in the second stage, from July to December 2016, the government will give a price reduction of US$2.22 per mbmtu.
However, none of the industries in the province has received the price reduction, according to PT PGN for the North Sumatra office.
"PGN has never received any recommendation from ESDM on industries that are expected to be awarded the price cut. So, no company in North Sumatra has enjoyed the low price facility," Saeful Hadi, the Sales Area Head of Medan PGN in North Sumatra said Thursday (September 8).
His company had heard that five industries had submitted recommendation requests to the Ministry of Industry, the PGN manager acknowledged.
The five industries are PT. Jui Shin, Musim Mas, Growth Sumatera, Gunung Gahapi and Kedaung.
However, no other companies other than those five have submitted a request for recommendation to the Ministry of Industry.
This is because the industries are still waiting for three additional industrial sectors which will have the right to ask for gas price cuts.
Previously, ten industrial sectors had the right to receive a price cut. Nine of the ten are petrochemicals, oleo chemicals, steel, ceramics, glass, rubber gloves, food and textile industries.
All industries operating in that area would be expected to receive gas at competitive prices, according to Industry Minister Airlangga Hartarto.
In addition, Airlangga will also ask that electricity prices be made more competitive.
"Surely, if it is gas-based, we expect the price of electricity to be also competitive, since energy infrastructure depends on both, gas and electricity," Airlangga argued.
However, the price of gas proposed by the industry ministry is yet to be decided because further discussions are awaited, Airlangga said.
The Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) will again ask the relevant ministry about the price cut policy, Parlindungan Purba, Apindo chairman for North Sumatra, said.
"There is the impression that the policy is only an effort to appease businesses who are crying due to the high gas price. There are too many complicated requirements that have to be met," Parlindungan Purba said.
After all, the price hike is the due to monopolistic practices.
The PGN manager acknowledged that his company had heard that five industries had submitted recommendation requests to the Ministry of Industry. The five industries are PT.Jui Shin, Musim Mas, Growth Sumatera, Gunung Gahapi and Kedaung.
However, no other companies than the five ones have submitted a request for recommendation to the Ministry of Industry. This because industries are still waiting for three additional industrial sectors which will have the rights to ask for gas price cuts.
Previously, ten industrial sectors have been decided to have the right to gain a price cut. Nine of the ten are petrochemical, oleo chemical, steel, ceramics, glass, rubber glove, food and textile industries.
According to Industry Minister Airlangga Hartarto, all industries operating in that areas would be expected to receive gas at competitive prices. In addition, Airlangga will also ask that electricity prices be also made more competitive.
"Surely, if it is gas-based, we expect the price of electricity to be also competitive, since the energy infrastructure depends on both gas and electricity," Airlangga argued.
However, Airlangga said the price of gas proposed by the Industry Ministry is yet to be decided because further discussions are awaited.
Employers Association (Apindo) for North Sumatra, Parlindungan Purba, said his association will ask again the price cut policy to the relevant ministry.
"There is the impression that the policy is only a mere effort to appease businesses which are crying due to high gas price. There are too complicated requirements that have to be met," Parlindungan Purba said. After all, the price hike is the due to monopolistic practices.
"We found monopoly in gas distribution and incompetent gas brokers," Chairman of Hipmi for Energy Affairs Andhika Anindyaguna stated in a release in Jakarta on Wednesday.
According to Andhika, monopoly has resulted in the soaring price of gas, while big companies keen on building gas distribution infrastructure are not able to enter the sector.
This condition disadvantages the people and discourages the competitiveness of national industries. Andhika said that Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Ministerial Decree No. 37 of 2015 was issued to address the problem of monopoly in distribution.
However, this decree is believed to have failed in accommodating the aspirations of private entities, which have infrastructure facilities to take part in the gas management business.
To this end, he noted that the government and Parliament need to revise the rules and are simultaneously expected to address the problem of incompetent traders or brokers.
"As a result of monopoly in gas distribution, there is no competition in gas prices because the price is set by only one party. The state, on the other hand, is still reluctant to intervene in deciding the gas price," he remarked.
According to Hipmi, monopoly practices have also led to the emergence of incompetent brokering by foreign parties.
He pointed out that when Sudirman Said held the post of energy and mineral resources minister, several efforts were made to amend ESDM Regulation No. 37 of 2015, which was later revised to ESDM Decree No. 6 of 2016.
Under Said's tenure, the allocation of gas was only meant to be given to gas trading license holders who had committed to building gas infrastructure facilities.
However, Andhika stated that this revision still failed to address two weaknesses: traders are yet be granted the freedom to build gas infrastructure and the revision of the decree is not retroactive. ***3***(A014/INE/o001)Edited by INEEDITOR'S NOTE
(T.A014/A/BESSR/O. Tamindael) 10-09-2016 14:45:5 |
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar