'Banning old bangers won't reduce pollution, congestion'

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Restricting the number of older cars in Jakarta, as provided for in the new draft bylaw on transportation, will not significantly reduce vehicular emissions, say transportation observers.

Ari Mohammad, an executive with the Swisscontact environmental organization, said on Wednesday that surveys conducted by his organization showed that there was no correlation between the age of cars and emissions.

"Swisscontact has been holding annual surveys on the reduction of vehicular emissions, and one of the conclusions is that there's no correlation between the age of the car and the emissions it produces," Ari told members of the City Council's Commission D for development affairs during a hearing.

Banning old cars from Jakarta's roads is provided for under article 29 (2) of the draft bylaw on road, railway, river and ferry transportation, which has been proposed by the city administration.

The draft bylaw is being discussed by the council and relevant officials from the administration. It is expected to be approved in mid-August.

Ari said that vehicular emissions depended on how car owners maintained their vehicles.

Based on the surveys that had been conducted, he said, many old cars aged over 10 years were still environmentally friendly in terms of emissions as they were well-maintained.

The survey also revealed that many cars produced since 2000 had high emissions due to poor maintenance.

City Transportation Agency chief Rustam Effendi had said earlier that the banning of old cars from Jakarta's streets was designed to improve air quality in the city.

The policy is also aimed at reducing the number of private cars, which has now reached some 1.5 million, compared to public transportation vehicles, which only number around 350,000.

Another transportation observer, Jack Sumabrata of the Pelangi Foundation, said that restricting the number of private cars would be required to reduce the city's notorious traffic jams, particularly during peak hours.

However, he said, this could only be brought about by imposing expensive parking fees across the city or restricting private cars on certain sections of road based on their registration numbers.

Jack disagreed with the banning of older cars as the administration was not capable of providing proper public transportation services.

He advised the administration to immediately improve public transportation as this was the key to resolving the city's transportation crisis.

"Good transportation is also the key to improving the quality of Jakarta's air," Jack said.

There has been a public debate on the possible banning of older cars since the 1980s, but this would be the first time that such a ban would actually be included in a city bylaw.