Jakarta Tightens Regulation on Air Pollution Control

KOMPAS/RIZA FATHONI

Buses stand by on Monday (29/7/2019) at the Blok M Terminal in South Jakarta. The terminal is to be revitalized and integrated with the MRT Jakarta and the Transjakarta busway as part of the Blok M transit-oriented development area.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The Jakarta administration has tightened its regulation on managing air pollution through the issuance of Gubernatorial Instruction No. 66/2019 on air quality control on Thursday (1/8/2019). The regulation covers all movable and immovable sources of air pollution.

The administration is involving 14 work units to resolve the crippling air pollution issue. Jakarta environmental agency head Andono Warih said that the instruction focused on tackling the air pollution caused by land transportation.

“The main source of air pollution is transportation, so we are preparing various measures to improve the sector,” Andono said on Thursday in Jakarta.

The agency’s records break down the air pollution sources into land transportation (75 percent), power plants and heaters (9 percent), industrial combustion (8 percent) and domestic combustion (8 percent). Andono said that the instruction was in line with the “Jakarta Clean Air 2030” road map.

Cross-regional effort

Jakarta transportation agency head Syafrin Liputo said that it would not extend the operating permits of vehicles that failed the emission test. “While the entry of [such vehicles] had been tolerated at terminals, their operation must be stopped in the future,” said Syafrin.

Furthermore, air pollution control should also involve multiple institutions and regions. Syafrin said vehicles from outside Jakarta that passed through the capital also contributed to air pollution. He urged the Indonesian Toll Road Authority (BPJT), the Greater Jakarta Transportation Agency (BPTJ) and the National Police Traffic Corps to conduct routine tests for motorized vehicles.

“The principle is for all logistics transportation to take the roadworthiness test, which includes an emission test, starting this year,” he said.

Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo shared the view, saying that all regional heads should respond to public complaints on air pollution through corrective steps that were appropriate to the local context.

KOMPAS/TOTOK WIJAYANTO

Smog obscures Jakarta’s high-rises on Wednesday (31/7/2019). Air quality monitor and information software AirVisual ranks the capital, which has a score of 158 (unhealthy) on the air quality index, among the cities in the world with the worst air pollution.

Civil lawsuit

Central Jakarta District Court presiding judge Saifudin Zuhri has postponed to 22 Aug. 2019 the hearing on the civil lawsuit filed by the Capital City Coalition for Clean Air Initiative, as neither the defendant nor plaintiff had submitted formal conditions.

The coalition groups together individuals and organizations advocating for the right to clean air, and its lawsuit targets those parties that have been deemed incapable of resolving Jakarta’s air pollution.

The defendants named in the lawsuit are the President, the Environment and Forestry Ministry, the Home Ministry, the Health Ministry, the Jakarta administration, the West Java administration and the Banten administration. Of these, only the Banten administration was absent during the court hearing.

The lawyer of the coalition, Ayu Eza Tiara, said that the agenda for the first meeting at court was mediation, to assist the opposing parties resolve the issue without going to court.

KOMPAS/PRIYOMBODO

LRT Jakarta trains pull into Boulevard Utara Station in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, during a trial run on 11 June 2019.

The lawsuit contains three demands: reinforce the air quality standards, that all administrations work together to resolve air pollution, and that the government establish a research-based strategic plan to resolve air pollution.

“We are open to discussion with the government,” said Ayu.

The coalition’s legal team possesses records showing that Jakarta’s air in January-June 2019 contained 37.82 micrograms per cubic meter (ug/m3) of PM 2.5 – particulate matter measuring less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter.

This is almost four times the PM 2.5 standard of the World Health Organization (WHO), which is set at 10 ug/m3 per year.

On the other hand, the government has yet to pass its regulation on electric vehicles, which is expected to help promote the use of more environmentally friendly vehicles. The Draft Presidential Regulation on Electric Vehicles has not been submitted to President Joko Widodo for his signature.

KOMPAS/RIZA FATHONI

A man walks on Friday (26/7/2019) along the 170-meter pedestrian bridge connecting Velodrome Station with the Pemuda busway shelter in East Jakarta. The pedestrian bridge, which was built to integrate the LRT Jakarta transit system with the Transjakarta Busway system, has cut the travel time for completing the Kelapa Gading-Dukuh Atas route to less than an hour.

“It has not arrived on my desk. I will sign it as soon as it [lands] on my desk,” the President said. (BOW/NIA/AYU/INA)