Beautiful Birthday Gifts for Latif and the Lembata People

MINISTRY OF ENERGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES

REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA

PRESS RELEASE

NUMBER: 606.Pers/04/SJI/2019

Dated: 12th October 2019

Beautiful Birthday Gifts for Latif and the Lembata People

The old man walked from his house in Balauring Village, which is the capital of Omesuri Subdistrict, Lembata Regency, East Nusa Tenggara Province to a new Fuels Station (SPBU) up on a hill, about 4 kilometers away. Getting himself ready from very early in the morning, the old man, whose name is Abdul Latif Laka Taranpiraq, did not want to miss one of the most historic moments in his life.

"This is history. Since I was born, this is the first time we have SPBU in our subdistrict, in our regency, and the launch took place at the same time with my 68th birthday, yesterday. This is one of the most beautiful birthday gifts," said Latif who was born on 10th October 1951, just before Minister of EMR launched SPBU Kompak 56.862.03 of Omesuri Subdistrict, Friday (11/10).

Latif went on to tell that before the Omesuri SPBU was founded, the Omesuri people had to go to Lewoleba, the capital of Lembata Regency, about 60 km away, to get fuels. Worse, the roads were only partly paved.

"It was not even a SPBU, just a fuels agent (APMS). Now we have two SPBU's, one down at the regency, and the other in our village. The prices are cheaper, too. If we bought retail, we had to spend up to Rp 20,000 per bottle (600ml), and sometimes the fuels were not available," added the Chief of Balauring Indigeneous Group, unable to contain his emotion.

These fuel stations are beautiful gifts not only for Latif but also for Lembata Regency that celebrates its 20th anniversary today (12/10). "These are 20-year old gifts for Lembata. Everyone is joyous, everyone is celebrating," added Latif.

In line with Latif, Hamad (30), who is a driver of inter-regency public minivan, felt very grateful to the Omesuri SPBU. "We used to go very far to get oil (fuel) for our cars. Now SPBU is close, no need to worry we might run out of oil on a trip," Hamad said.

Hamad looked back at a time when he had to make sure his gas tank was full several days in advance every time he wanted to go to the city (Lewoleba) by motorcycle. "If we run out of fuels in the middle of a trip, just face it, and wait for a big vehicle to come, being transported to the city, get some fuels, and only then can we use our vehicles," he added.

Now Latif and Hamad have no trouble to get fuels. The Omesuri SPBU operates as a One-Price Fuels SPBU, one of the 170 distribution points in 3T (outermost, frontline, and disadvantaged) areas selling fuels at the same price with those in other regions in Indonesia, Rp 6,450 for Premium and Rp 5,150 for Biosolar. (KO)

Head of Bureau of Communication, Public Information Services, and Cooperation

Agung Pribadi (08112213555)

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