Ambitious clean air bylaw lacks support provisions

Ambitious clean air bylaw lacks support provisions

Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The New Year's resolution by the Jakarta administration is to
make the city breathable, but that could be too ambitious even
with the issuance of Bylaw No. 2/2005 on air pollution control,
which will go into effect in February.

Except for Gubernatorial Regulation No. 75/2005 supporting the
bylaw's smoking ban, no other regulation has been issued to
support other aspects of the bylaw, such as the use of natural
gas in all public transportation and government vehicles, as well
as the control of vehicular emissions.

"We have completed a draft regulation for the use of natural
gas in public transportation, however we lack support from the
City Council," Head of the Jakarta Environment Management Agency
(BPLHD) Kosasih Wirahadikusumah said on Wednesday.

Looking at past experiences in trying to encourage the use
natural gas, Kosasih cited the implementation of a Gubernatorial
Instruction in 1992 effectively requiring taxi companies to use
the alternative fuel in at least 20 percent of the cars in their
fleet.

"It worked well at the time because the price difference
between natural gas and gasoline was quite high. But as time went
on, this difference lessened until the price of the two fuels
became relatively similar," he said, explaining that without the
price edge, natural gas became too ineffective for taxi
companies.

At present there are only about 500 government-owned vehicles
using natural gas, Kosasih -- who was a guest speaker at a press
conference on Jakarta's air quality organized by the Forum for
Cleaner Emission Partnership (MEB) on Wednesday -- added.

To date, only four of the 18 of the original natural gas fuel
stations are still operational. These is one on Jl. Sumenep in
Menteng, Central Jakarta; another in the Semanggi area of Central
Jakarta; another in Tebet, South Jakarta; and on Jl. D.I.
Panjaitan in Cawang, East Jakarta.

Kosasih said that it was only after the fuel price hikes on
Oct. 1 that natural gas became feasible again.

"But after ignoring their gas conversion kits for more than a
decade, reusing them without first servicing the kits can have
disastrous results," he said, citing the explosion of a Kosti
Taxi on Dec 12.

This incident, has in turn heightened the public's concern
over the safety of using such fuel in vehicles.

"Without an intelligible explanation, there will always be
public resistance towards the use of natural gas, particularly
the safety aspects," MEB program manager Firdaus Cahyadi said
during the press conference.

Also during the press conference, MEB researcher Joko
Sulistyono highlighted the government's dominance over the
country's fuel industry, which unfortunately still looks down on
natural gas production for fuel.

Kosasih, however, was optimistic that with the Jakarta
administration's commitment to using natural gas in buses on the
new busway lines, more demand would follow and with it the
industry. After that, it was a matter of time before all other
public transportation companies followed suit.

"The new bylaw will possibly be implemented to force public
transportation companies to install natural gas devices for all
their fleets when they renew their operating licenses," he said.

Meanwhile, experts say the easiest part to implement on Bylaw
No. 2, is the requirement to regularly inspect and maintain
private cars and motorcycles so that they adhere to the
recommended emission standards, but that too has its problems.

Kosasih said that to date there were only 80 certified car
shops in the city able to carry out emission tests, while at
least 200 would be needed. And only 239 out of 600 certified
technicians were currently available.

"Furthermore, there are no specific emissions standards
available for two-stroke engine motorcycles," he said.

Meanwhile, Firdaus said that the public -- familiar with the
bribery that goes on with the road worthiness tests for public
vehicles -- only view the new regulation to put private vehicles
through regular inspections and maintenance as just another
method of extortion.

"So unless the government repairs the road worthiness test for
public vehicles, this image will remain in the public's mind and
they will, of course, resist," he said.