Pertamina Can't Accept to be Sole Object to Blame

Jakarta, Indonesia (News Today) - A top official of the state enterprises ministry said the state oil company Pertamina could not be blamed as the only responsible party for the gas canister blasts.

"It is simply not right that all mistakes which had caused the LPG canister blasts are to be addressed to Pertamina," the ministry’s secretary Said Didu told ANTARA here Tuesday.

Didu said the blasts were actually the responsibility of all related parties involved in the implementation of the kerosene-LPG conversion program. Pertamina itself had clear responsibilities in this government’s conversion program, he said.

"If the gas cylinder explosions are related to Pertamina’s areas of operations, the company is of course responsible," he said.

However, the LPG canister blasts had nothing to do with the company but the bursts were caused by various sectors related to other parties which must be the ones who were actually held responsible, he said. Didu said the gas canister blasts caused deaths.

"But, please don’t blame it on Pertamina only," he said.

Earlier in the day, Pertamina’s LPG conversion team leader, Kusnendar, said Pertamina had spent Rp2.8 billion in compensation for the victims.The payments of compensations and insurance claims from the blast victims were part of Pertamina’s protection for the three-kilogram gas canister package recipients.

The budget of Pertamina’s kerosene-LPG conversion socialization program, Kusnendar said had reached Rp200 billion. Most of the money had been allocated for media advertisements. The socialization program should be conducted jointly by all related government agencies and ministries.

The ministries involved included the coordinating ministry for social welfare and the energy and mineral resources ministry, he said. Since the government implemented the kerosene-LPG conversion plan in 2007, at least 45 million packages of gas stoves and three-kilogram gas cylinders had been distributed to the consumers.

Since then, LPG canister explosions had increased. The West Jakarta fire brigade authorities, for instance, said 13 LPG canister blasts had occurred in their administrative areas over the past seven months of 2010.

The accidents had caused 14 people to sustain serious burns and nine others light ones, Head of the West Jakarta fire brigade’s operational unit, Endang Choiruddin said.

"The gas canister blasts that happened in Tanjung Duren Selatan, Grogol, Petamburan neighborhood on Sunday (25/7) had caused the biggest number of victims so far," he said.

The three-kilogram gas cylinder explosions wounded ten people and damaged a house rented by a chicken porridge seller in the West Jakarta slum area, he said.

As the result of the three-kilogram gas canister-related blasts in Indonesia, an NGO activist had urged the government to issue a moratorium on the use of canisters of this type. Chairman of the Sabang-Merauke Circle (SMS) Syahganda Nainggolan said the moratorium would accelerate efforts to withdraw three-kilogram canisters from market.

According to him, the government had to realize that unpredictable Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) blasts mostly involved three-kilogram canisters. Therefore, the government could not ignore the high risks the people were exposed to at any time.

Source : kompas

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