The city administration began investigations at a meeting Monday into a Rp 10.6 billion (US$1.1 million) debt it allegedly owes for gas used by the TransJakarta busway.

The meeting, at city hall, was attended by the city's mining agency, transportation agency and the TransJakarta busway operator.

The debt was revealed last Monday at a meeting between state-owned gas company PT Perusahaan Gas Negara (PT PGN) and Commission VII of the House of Representatives.

In 2007, of 396 TransJakarta buses operating in corridors 1 through 7, 300 were dependent on compressed natural gas (CNG), provided by four stations across the capital.

PGN said the city administration is six months behind in payments for CNG for several TransJakarta operators. Consequently, PGN threatened to stop its CNG supply for two gas stations — one in Rawa Buaya, West Jakarta, and another on Jl. Perintis Kemerdekaan, East Jakarta — by the end of this month.

Both stations are managed by Petro Gas, appointed in May 2006 by the city administration to supply gas to TransJakarta buses.

The price for CNG fuel was set by PGN and the unit price was more expensive than the price at gas stations, Governor Fauzi Bowo said at a doorstop interview Monday.

"There is possibly a discrepancy between the payers and the busway operator. Funding for fuel is included in the operational subsidy we give to TransJakarta. The city administration doesn't pay directly, so we can't adjust payments all of a sudden," Fauzi said.

PGN had changed the tariff because the company needed to pay pipe installation costs, mining agency head Peni Susanti said.

"We will discuss this issue, including the gas demand and other mechanisms," she said.

As well as the city administration, payments to PGN involved three other institutions, including busway operator TransJakarta, consortiums of busway suppliers and the gas station operator Petro Gas, Peni said.

It is the consortiums' responsibility to pay fuel costs, transportation agency head Nurachman said.

The operational director of the PT Jakarta Trans Metro (PT JTM) consortium, I Gusti Ngurah Oka, denied his company was lagging behind in payments.

"We always pay for CNG monthly. If we are late in our payments, gas stations won't allow us to fill our tanks," Oka told The Jakarta Post.

Each of his buses uses the equivalent of around 260 liters of premium every day, Oka said. Each bus has a capacity of the equivalent of 300 liters of premium, he added.

"We buy gas at two filling stations on Jl. Pemuda, owned by Pertamina, and Jl. Perintis Kemerdekaan, owned by Petro Gas," he said.