Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang
As many as 50,000 poor families in Tangerang municipality have yet to receive a free gas stove from state-owned oil company PT Pertamina, an official said Friday.
The administration registered 343,604 poor families in 13 districts across the municipality as qualifying to receive a stove under the free distribution program.
"But so far only 293,604 of them have received a stove," Muhamad Noor, head of the trade department at the municipal trade and industry agency, said.
"As a result, 50,000 families still have to use kerosene. This is a problem because distribution of subsidized kerosene across the municipality will cease as of June 1," he said.
According to Noor, the late distribution of the free gas stoves and gas canisters occurred because Pertamina has limited stocks.
"Currently it has only high-pressure gas stoves. But what people need are low-pressure gas stoves," he said.
Families must meet at least one of three criteria to be eligible to receive a free gas stove. They must not already own a gas stove, have a monthly income of less than Rp 1.5 million (US$163) and/or be street vendors.
Trade and industry agency head Dafyar Eliadi said that after the kerosene phase-out the amount of kerosene delivered to Tangerang municipality dropped to only 4.76 percent of the previous amount.
"The municipality used to receive 9,240,000 liters of kerosene per month but now it receives only 440,000 liters each month," he said.
He said a shortage of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) refilling stations in Tangerang was another problem for residents.
"At the moment, there are only two LPG filling stations in Tangerang. One, in Curug district, belongs to Pertamina and another one, near Taman Tekno in Serpong, is owned by a private company," he said.
Hendra Arief, Pertamina LPG sales representative for Tangerang, said Pertamina's team of consultants would soon conduct surveys of 50,000 families and 100 food vendors who have not received a free gas stove.
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