67 percent of vehicles fail emission test

JAKARTA (JP): More than half of the 1,307 vehicles randomly selected for the recent emission tests conducted by the city administration failed the test, an official says.

Quoting the preliminary result of the tests, the head of the city environment bureau, Aboejoewono Aboeprajitno, said on Monday that only 39 percent of the vehicles passed the test.

"We still have to wait for the final result which will be completed in two weeks," Aboejoewono said.

The bureau, in cooperation with several related agencies such as the city police, the city land transport agency and city health office, tested 1,307 vehicles over a period of six days, starting June 11. These included private cars and public transportation such as taxi and buses. The emission tests were conducted in conjunction with World Environment Day.

Most of the vehicles which failed the test were private cars and taxis.

"The vehicles produced high levels of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, hydrocarbon, dust and smoke. All were above the permitted levels," he said.

"Surprisingly, the condition of city buses is relatively good as only 30 percent of the vehicles failed the test. This is very interesting," he said.

The city has a total of 2.5 million vehicles, 700,000 of which are public transportation vehicles, which have been widely blamed for causing pollution.

He also said that his office plans to follow up on the tests, especially on those that failed.

"My office and the police have the vehicles' data. The police will not issue new plate numbers if the owners fail to fulfill all requirements related to the emission test," Aboejoewono said. (yns)