Friday, February 08, 2008 DOE scheme may solve spiraling cost of diesel
IF PLANS push through this year, the cost of diesel may drop by a significant P5 per liter.
This as revealed by Jonie Itliong, president of the Federation of Jeepney Drivers Associations of Baguio, Benguet and La Union, who added that Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes already implemented the plan in Metro Manila in response to the threat of drivers to ask for a P2 increase in jeepney fares.
The plan, according to Itliong, is for the Department of Energy (DOE) to station tankers along the four main truck lines of the city to service mainly jeepneys running on diesel.
"All we have to do is to look for a suitably large enough area where the tanker could be parked and where jeepneys could load up," Itliong added.
He intends to ask the various jeepney organizations to look for an empty lot along their routes where the tanker could be placed. These are the lines lead to Marcos Highway and Kennon Road, Pacdal-Mines View, Naguilian Road, and La Trinidad from the central business district.
"The area must be large enough for the tanker and a gas pump and accommodate 15 to 20 jeepneys at a time," he said. Itliong said the area could be from 500 to 1,000 square meters.
"The (jeepney) associations could also take turns in managing the operations of the diesel loading area so any income could also accrue to them," Itliong added.
He said that there are about 300 jeepneys plying along each trunk line. At 25 liters a day per jeepney, he said a 2,000 liter tanker would be more than sufficient to supply the needs of the jeeps.
"The beauty of it all is that aside from selling gas P5 lesser than the prevailing rate of gas stations, even private owned diesel run vehicles may also tank up there," Itliong stressed.
"Hopefully, the Big 3 will feel the effect of lesser sales so they will also bring down the prices of their products." Itliong was referring to Petron, Caltex (Chevron) and Shell gasoline stations operating in Baguio.
The diesel sold at the proposed tanking areas will comply with the Bio-fuels Act since it will be pre-mixed with one percent coco-methyl ethanol.
Aside from this, Itliong said the Marcos Highway gas station with liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) pumps will be reopened to the public to service those cars which have been equipped with LPG tanks.
"With the training granted by Tesda (Technical Education Skills Development Authority) on some of our members, we are now more capable of filling LPG tanks on vehicles," Itliong explained. The training was done under the auspices of Nippon Denso, a company known for converting gas or diesel run engines to LPG. (SB)
