'Ban private cars on Sundays'

'Ban private cars on Sundays'

JAKARTA (JP): An official in charge of living environment affairs has come up with a novel but radical idea of making Jakarta's major roads free of privately owned cars on Sundays.

Blaming the highly polluted air in Jakarta on the uncontrolled growth in the number of cars, Aboejoewono, the city's chief of the environmental office, said that to get rid of the problem, the number of cars on the capital's roads should be gradually limited.

"Air pollution has reached an intolerable level, so it's high time we stopped the ever growing number of cars on the roads," he told Antara on Saturday, adding that if possible all private cars should be banned from Jakarta's major roads on Sundays.

Aboejoewono said that at present there are more than 1.8 million cars in the sprawling, teeming capital city of more than 10 million people.

"I'm aware that my proposal might raise controversy and draw strong protests from various quarters, but this seems to be one of the best ways to reduce the level of air pollution in the city. I will appreciate anyone who can also raise proposals on how to cope with this crucial air pollution problem," he said. (bas)