City set to ban old vehicles from Jakarta's streets
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
Jakarta residents may soon have to start checking the ages of their cars -- as the city council is considering banning all private vehicles more than 15 years old from the city as a way to fix air pollution.
City Environmental Management Agency head Kosasih Wirahadikusumah said on Friday the agency agreed with the vehicle lifetime limitations because many problems could be resolved with such a policy.
"Such a policy would be good, not only for the clean air campaign, but also for easing chaotic traffic congestion in the city," Kosasih said at the council's deliberation of the draft bylaw on air pollution.
The council's Commission A for legal and administrative affairs on Tuesday proposed limiting of vehicle lifetimes -- to 10 years for all public transport and to 15 years for private vehicles.
In its attempt to try and clean up the city's air quality, which often measures up to five times higher than maximum international safety levels, it has tried to insert several rulings into the draft bylaw, including obligatory emission testing for all vehicles and the use of compressed natural gas (CNG) rather than petrol for all vehicles in the city.
Commission A spokesman Muhammad Arifin said the city administration should eventually require all vehicles to use gas rather than petrol, while Commission D for development affairs spokesman Abdul Ghoni argued all public transport should be immediately required to use the fuel.
Environmentalists have said that a reduction in vehicular emissions is urgent because they contribute around 70 percent of the air pollution in the city.
Natural gas is cheaper and less polluting than standard gasoline.
Kosasih said limiting vehicle lifetimes would also work to reduce the number of the cars in the city.
"As we know, traffic congestion in the city is caused by the continuing increase in the numbers of private vehicles," he said.
Based on the data from the City Communications Agency, the number of vehicles in the city reached some 4.2 million, with annual growth last year of 11 percent.
Roads, meanwhile, have grown by about 2 percent a year in Jakarta.
Kosasih said the council was currently discussing a possible memorandum of understanding with state oil and gas company Pertamina and state gas supplier PGN.
"The MOU is important to ensure that there will be an adequate supply of gas to the city," he said, adding that buses to operate along the busway corridor from Pulo Gadung in East Jakarta to Kali Deres in West Jakarta would use gas as their fuel.
The move would be followed by the use of gas by all other public transport vehicles owned or managed by the city administration, he said.