Air pollution in Bandung alarming

BANDUNG (JP): Air pollution resulting from gas emissions has become an obvious problem here, with the local Environmental Impact Management Agency office estimating the number of vehicles exceeding the tolerable exhaust emission limit at 36 percent.

The office's head of the monitoring and control unit, Yusuf Supriatna, said on Monday that the depressing findings came after 719 out of 2,000 randomly checked public and private cars and motorcycles failed the latest emission tests last week.

Only 6.5 percent of the vehicles checked failed the tests last year, according to Yusuf.

"The increase in the number of polluting vehicles has certainly drawn great concern," he said.

There are around 500,000 vehicles registered in the city, once dubbed the Paris of Java, with an annual growth rate of 2 percent.

The four-day tests were designed to detect levels of carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbon (HC) emitted from gasoline run vehicles as well as the density of exhaust fumes from cars using diesel fuel.

Vehicles are considered safe if their gas emissions contain no more than 4.5 percent of CO and 1200 ppm of HC and if their smoke density does not exceed 50 percent.

An expert staff member of the office, Roslina, said that more than half of the diesel engine cars produced by a well-known brand tested last week violated the exhaust density level.

To curb the degree of air pollution, Roslina said the office will emulate Jakarta in distributing emission testers to auto repair shops across the city, beginning next year.

Jakarta is the third most polluted city in the world after Mexico City and Bangkok.

Roslina said the office would suggest the city administration take stringent measures against motorists whose vehicles were found to violate the tolerable level of polluting emissions.

"Air pollution will be very dangerous to people here because they live in a city surrounded by mountains. Such an area allows polluted air to accumulate rather than disappear," she warned. (25)