111 petrol stations in Johor checked for floated diesel price compliance

JOHOR BARU: A total of 111 petrol stations in Johor have been inspected by the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry to ensure compliance with the floating of diesel prices starting June 10.

The ministry’s Johor director Lilis Saslinda Pornomo said its enforcement team had made their rounds at the petrol stations in urban and rural areas from 5pm on Sunday to midnight on Monday.

Lilis said the checks found that a petrol station in Simpang Renggam was suspected of selling diesel in containers larger than 20-litre capacity to a buyer who did not hold a special permit from the ministry to buy diesel in containers over 20 litres.

“We questioned the driver of a four-wheel pick-up vehicle at the station and found that he is an employee of a contractor company.

“He purchased the diesel for machinery used at construction sites and agricultural land owned by his employer,” said Lilis in a statement today.

She added that the case was being investigated under Regulation 12A of the Control of Supplies Regulations 1974 for failing to comply with the regulations.

Lilis said the objective of the inspection was to check whether the petrol stations were selling diesel at the subsidised price before the float kicked in at midnight on June 10.

“Besides that, our enforcement officers also made sure that there were no violations such as the closure of petrol stations, claiming to be out of diesel stock, faulty pumps, conditional sales, refusal of sales or hiding controlled goods.

“We will continue monitoring petrol stations to ensure everybody complies with the regulations,” she added.

She also said a total of 33 types of public transport and goods vehicles can continue to enjoy subsidised diesel using fleet cards issued under the Subsidised Diesel Regulation System Pilot Project.

The government announced that diesel prices will be floated and will retail at RM3.35 per litre in the peninsula starting today (June 10).

This is based on the Automatic Pricing Mechanism formula for the month of May.

The previous price of diesel announced on June 5 was RM2.15 per litre. This price will be maintained for Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan.