Blue sky not rhetoric in Shanghai

Blue sky not rhetoric in Shanghai

As one of Jakarta's sister cities, Shanghai, China -- with a
total population of 13 million and an area of 6,341 square
kilometers -- has similar problems. In a recent comparative study
organized by the City Council, The Jakarta Post's Damar Harsanto
was invited to visit Shanghai to learn how that city's officials
deal with the problems. This is the second of three articles.

Hundreds of people gathered at a park adjacent to the Shanghai
railway station on a Saturday night. They were watching a giant
screen showing the Asia Cup soccer final in which host China met
with Japan.

The scene evoked similar images of villages in Central Java
and East Java when people gather outdoors to watch the wayang
kulit (shadow puppet) show.

The big difference is that the Chinese were watching a soccer
game through modern electronic equipment surrounded by high-rise
buildings while the Javanese watched the shadow puppet show on
the grass surrounded by wooden shacks.

Such a scene in Shanghai, as cultural observers put it,
reflects the spirit of community amid rapid changes in society
fueled by modernization.

But, for Zhao Yi, a Shanghai resident, the explanation was
very simple. "We are going out to cool off. The hot weather
forces us to leave our apartments for fresh air because we don't
want to pay for the costly electricity charges for excessive use
of air-conditioning."

He is lucky that the administration provides many parks for
its residents to relax and socialize. Over the last five years,
it has turned about 2,600 hectares of land into parks. Shanghai
covers an area of 6,341 square kilometers.

The administration also requires developers to leave 35
percent of the total construction area for public parks.

The percentage is far above Jakarta's plan to maintain 13.9
percent of its 661 square kilometers for open and green space by
2010.

One of the spacious city parks in downtown Shanghai is Renmin
People's Square which is around 4,000 square meters.

The administration launched a program earlier to provide more
open spaces for its residents. It also introduced the motto,
"living in a big garden". The program resembles Jakarta's motto
of "blue skies, clear water and green land".

The motto in Shanghai, however, is not mere government
rhetoric since the administration requires land owners to plant
trees on their land.

Even spaces under bridges and overpasses have also been
converted into parks. The idea, to some extent, has been adopted
by Jakarta Parks Agency with small parks under overpasses such as
in Senen, Central Jakarta.

Expanding green spaces is not the only policy of Shanghai to
keep the city clean. It stopped using leaded gasoline in October
1996 while Jakarta only started phasing out leaded gasoline in
1999.

Shanghai also requires around 643,000 motorized vehicles to
use cleaner fuel such as compressed natural gas and liquefied
petroleum gas. It also bans its 789,000 motorcycles from entering
major thoroughfares and downtown areas to reduce pollution and
chronic traffic congestion.

Shanghai has invested around 4.74 billion Chinese yuan (US$571
million) to tackle air pollution and improve the environment. The
city predicts that it will have over 300 days this year with an
air quality above the Class 2 level (virtually harmless to
health) every year.

Unfortunately, its sister city Jakarta currently only has 25.5
days with good air quality throughout the year, or 11.77 times
less than Shanghai. Therefore, Jakarta still has a long way to go
to improve the environment for its citizens.