City to get tough on 2-stroke motorbikes

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Jakarta administration said on Tuesday that it would impose tighter regulations on the operation of motorcycles with two- stoke engines due to their major contribution to air pollution in the capital.

The move is in line with a ministerial decree calling for cleaner vehicular emission that came into effect last Jan. 1.

"We may require owners (of two-strike motorcycles) to pay higher taxes and higher parking fees to discourage people from using them," Jakarta Environmental Management Board head Kosasih Wirahadikusumah said at City Hall.

Kosasih referred to the two-stroke motorcycles as "monsters" as they have the highest emission level of all motorized vehicles.

"A two-stroke engine motorcycle has emission levels equal to the 10 four-stroke motorcycles or 20 cars," he said.

Of the approximately four million motorized vehicles in the city, some 2.6 million of them are motorcycles, which are relatively inexpensive. At least one million motorcycles in the city have two-stroke engines.

There are 14,000 three-wheeled motorized vehicles, or bajaj, in Jakarta, which also have two-stroke engines.

In its ruling, the Office of the State Minister of the Environment told vehicle manufacturers not to produce any new types of two-stroke motorcycles as they are not in compliance with the Euro 2 emission standard.

The Euro 2 emission standard, which came into effect in Europe in 1996, permits exhaust emissions of nitrous oxide up to 7.0 grams per kilowatt-hour, hydrocarbons 1.1 g/kWh, carbon monoxide 4.0 g/kWh and particulate 0.15 g/kWh.

An official with the state minister's office in charge of vehicular emission levels, Diahwati Agustayani, said that the minister's office planned to completely halt the production -- as well as the operation of -- two-stroke motorcycles by 2007. Though, in the interim they have not been banned.

"No new types of two-stroke vehicles will be produced this year. But, we will still allow the sale of already-produced motorcycles, as long as the manufacturers make necessary modifications to the engine, to lower the emission level of the motorcycles," Diahwati told The Jakarta Post.

Vehicle emissions account for up to 70 percent of air pollution in the city. The remaining 30 percent comes from industrial emissions.

The agency reported that, in the first eight months of last year, Jakarta had only 51 days when the air was regarded as "good" quality.

Long-term exposure to air pollution -- especially carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxide and particulate -- can adversely affect a person's respiratory and nervous systems.