A One-centimeter-diameter steel pipes run along the kitchen wall of Iin's apartment in Kebon Kacang, Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta. Every day, the 48-year-old uses piped gas as fuel for her cooking stove. "The cost is minimal, only Rp30,000 a month," she told Tempo on Wednesday last week.

Since they were built in 1985, the apartments owned by the National Urban Development Corporation have been supplied with natural gas by Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN