15/3/06 KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama) -- The recent fuel price hike, how oil subsidy savings are to be spent and alternative sources of energy were the focus of debate in the Dewan Rakyat, Wednesday.

Government backbenchers, who supported the price increase, asked why the government did not expand the use of existing alternative fuels, especially natural gas for vehicles (NGV).

Datuk Mohd Alwi Che Ahmad (BN-Ketereh) said expanding the use of NGV was among the best options as it was not only cheaper but NGV vehicles could also use petrol as fuel.

It was very unfortunate that the potential of NGV had not been tapped when gas was in plentiful supply in the country, he said during the debate on the motion of thanks for the Yang di-Pertuan Agong's address at the opening of the current session of Parliament on Monday.

"The people are angry because they have no alternatives. Take a look at bottled water, it costs RM2.10 a litre compared to petrol at RM1.92 a litre but the people are not complaining. This is because they have a choice of getting tap or well water for drinking.

"It would be the same for fuel. The people won't complain if they have alternatives. But why aren't there more gas stations? To my knowledge, there are only 50. I am confident that if the government builds more gas stations, the people will no longer be angry," he said.

Mohd Alwi said that based on his experience, the use of NGV was highly cost-efficient.

"A KL-Seremban-KL journey only costs RM4.13. Even the toll charge (on the route) is more expensive," he said, adding that the installation cost of the NGV kit, which was expensive now, could be lowered if they were imported in larger quantities.

"According to an entrepreneur who installs these kits, India is not keen on supplying us because we order too few, around 200 to 300, units annually whereas Pakistan imports them by the thousands," he said.

Datuk Mohd Said Yusof (BN-Jasin) then asked Mohd Alwi why the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) was also increased if there was plentiful supply of gas.

"LPG is different from NGV. NGV is natural gas, LPG is for cooking. If LPG is used in cars, the cars will get cooked," Mohd Alwi said to laughter. Nasaruddin Hashim (BN-Parit), who also supported the idea of expanding the use of NGV, said the government should allow other oil companies to supply NGV if Petronas was not interested.

He also asked the government to not solely depend on palm oil as the main source to produce biodiesel.

"In Africa they use castor fruit. We could do the same here. We could use land unsuitable for oil palm to plant the castor fruit tree," he said.

He also touched on the RM4.4 billion in fuel subsidy saving which he said was not much compared to the total RM16.6 billion which the government had to shoulder before it increased the prices of petrol and diesel by 30 sen a litre and that of LPG by 30 sen a kilogramme on Feb 28.

"But I am puzzled why every time there is a fuel price hike, businesses take the opportunity to raise prices. How long is this going to go on? What is going to happen when the government abolishes subsidies altogether?" he asked.

He said the time had come for the people to reduce their dependence on subsidies and that the RM16.6 billion was better used to give government employees higher pay.

Jimmy Donald (BN-Sri Aman) suggested that the subsidy saving be used to increase the allocation for development in the constituencies, especially building rural roads in Sarawak where the main problem faced by the people was not rising fuel prices but lack of roads.

"People have to walk miles or journey by boat to get diesel for generators at their longhouses because there are no roads nearby," he said.

-- BERNAMA