Solar is Rare, Pertamina’s Managing Director Suspects There is a Misappropriation of Palm Oil and Mining Companies

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – President Director of PT Pertamina (Persero) Nicke Widyawati suspects the misuse of solar subsidies by large industries, such as mining and palm oil companies. This is one of the causes of solar scarcity subsidy.

He revealed that the allegation was evident from increasing diesel sales to cover 93 percent, while sales of non-subsidized diesel or Dex Series decreased to only 7 percent.

Also read: Ladies of the Cooking Oil Queue, Gentlemen of the Solar Queue

“This is what we have to see, is this true for the logistics industry and industries that are not big industries? The queues that we see, it seems that they are actually from big industries such as palm oil, mining. This must be brought under control,” said Nicke in hearing meeting with Commission VI DPR RI, Monday (28/3/2022).

He explained, referring to Presidential Regulation No. 191 of 2014, there are provisions related to transportation that can and cannot use subsidized diesel. As for the regulation, cars transporting mining and plantation products with more than 6 wheels cannot use subsidized diesel.

“So that as much as 93 percent, including (mining and palm oil industries), should not cover mining and oil palm. This is what we suspect,” he said.

Nicke said that until now Pertamina continues to distribute subsidized diesel to break up the long queues of vehicles that occur at a number of gas stations. In fact, the distribution as of February 2022 has exceeded the quota by around 10 percent, from the supposed 2.27 million kilo liter (KL) to 2.49 million KL.

Also read: After Cooking Oil, Now Residents Have To Queue For Hours For Solar

“We understand that now the industry is growing, we will continue to supply, even though it has over quota, per month there is a quota. But already over 10 percent until February,” he added.

Therefore, according to Nicke, technical guidance from the government is needed to anticipate potential misappropriation of subsidized diesel. This is to ensure that the distribution of subsidized diesel can be right on target so that it does not experience a shortage.

“Solar There are rules for subsidies in the Presidential Decree (Presidential Regulation), but maybe there needs to be a Ministerial Decree (Ministerial Decree) that regulates technical guidelines so that they can be used at the field level,” he said.

Also read: Pertamina: Distribution of Subsidized Solar in February Has Exceeded the 10 Percent Quota

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