Jakarta's air gets dirtier every year<\/p>\n
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
While the President has set out to clean up politics, it seems
\nthe air in the nation's capital is only getting dirtier.<\/p>\n
The latest report by the Jakarta Environmental Management Body
\n(BPLHD) reveals that there were only 20 days this year -- up to
\nand including September -- when the air quality was categorized
\nas good, compared to 53 days in 2004 and 25 days in 2003.<\/p>\n
A worsening trend is evident over the past five years with
\ngood air quality reaching 108 days in 2001 and 75 in 2002.<\/p>\n
The report was based on the records of 14 monitoring posts
\nacross the city on pollutants, including nitrate nitrogen (NO2),
\nSO2 (sulfate), lead (Pb), carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (03) and
\nparticulate matter (PM10).<\/p>\n
The Jakarta administration has blamed the rising level of air
\npollution in the city on the massive influx of vehicles, with at
\nleast 138 purchased in Jakarta every day.<\/p>\n
Vehicular emission accounts for 70 percent of pollution in the
\ncity, while the remaining 30 percent comes from industrial
\nestates and households, the report said.<\/p>\n
Environmentalist Ahmad Safrudin said Jakartans who had noticed
\nthe weather had been warmer than usual of late could blame the
\nworsening quality of the city's air.<\/p>\n
\"The Jakarta administration should also be blamed for this
\nsituation, particularly for its failure to develop open and green
\nspaces and stop the conversion of green areas into housing or
\ncommercial estates,\" said Ahmad, who is also secretary-general of
\nnon-governmental organization Clean Emission Partnership (MEB).<\/p>\n
He underlined that the function of open and green spaces was,
\nas the city's lungs, to help neutralize pollutants.<\/p>\n
Together with other environmentalists, Ahmad conducted a
\nsurvey this year, which showed that open and green spaces in the
\ncity had further shrunk to 6.2 percent of the total city land
\narea of 65,680 hectares, down from 8.6 percent in 2001.<\/p>\n
This is a far cry from the expected 13.94 percent by 2010 as
\nstipulated in the city's master plan 2000-2010.<\/p>\n
\"We've registered the massive conversion of green space across
\nthe city in the past three years into building estates, like in
\nCibubur in East Jakarta, Pulomas and Kelapa Gading in North
\nJakarta and Cilandak in South Jakarta. Sadly, little has been
\ndone by the administration to stop the conversion,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He said the administration had apparently attempted to scale
\ndown its obligation to develop open and green space from 26.1
\npercent by 2005 in the previous master plan to 13.94 percent,
\nallowing the conversion of more green spaces into commercial and
\nbusiness areas.<\/p>",
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