Government moves to cut emissions in big cities
Fitri Wulandari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Long criticized for its lack of action, the government has moved to lower vehicle emission levels in Indonesia's major cities.
With financial assistance from international donors and non- governmental organizations (NGOs), the government is working on a national action plan.
A work group will be formed to prepare an integrated strategy on the reduction of vehicle emissions. The group will provide recommendations on strategies to reduce vehicle emissions nationwide by February 2002.
Ridwan M Tamin, the head of the vehicle air pollution division at the National Environmental Impact Management Agency (Bapedal), said that the program would bring together government agencies and NGOs, which were currently working on their own agenda.
"A lack of coordination has been making the emission reduction efforts ineffective," Ridwan said at a media briefing on a workshop for vehicle emission reduction at the Meridien Hotel in Jakarta on Tuesday.
The work group, called the Multisectoral Action Plan Group, comprises government agencies such as Bapedal, the Jakarta city administration, the State Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources and the Ministry of Transportation.
The project is sponsored by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Several NGOs concerned with air pollution have joined the group, such as Swisscontact and the Committee Against Leaded Fuel (KPBB).
The government has begun a rigorous campaign to cut back on air pollution, especially vehicle emissions, in urban areas.
As part of its efforts to reduce air pollution, the government has begun phasing out leaded gasoline and introducing unleaded gasoline at city gas pumps since June.
It has also stipulated that public transportation use the less polluting natural gas by the end of this year.
Air pollution in Indonesia's major cities is well-known. Jakarta, for instance, is among the world's most polluted cities.
The Jakarta office of Bapedal has recorded extremely high levels of lead pollution. In some areas, pollution has reached an average of 1.8 micrograms per cubic meter, higher than the standard of 1.0 microgram per cubic meter as set by the agency.
The high level of air pollution has raised concerns about its hazardous effect on humans, particularly children.
Studies have shown that leaded gasoline can affect the human nervous system, brain, heart, respiratory system, the digestive and reproductive systems and the kidneys. Ten micrograms of lead in the blood can lower a child's IQ by 2.5 points.
Ridwan said that in the future, the forum would strive for wider participation from other parties, such as the National Police, auto repair shop owners and even car owners.
Meanwhile, Iskandar Abdullah, the director of the Urban Transportation System at the Ministry of Transportation said that the ministry was working on a plan to exempt taxis fueled by natural gas from import duty.
Iskandar said that public transportation owners were reluctant to use natural gas because they would have to install converters, which could cost up to Rp 5 million each.
The converter is used to reduce hazardous elements contained in gasoline.
"The owners would have less expensive taxis and they wouldn't have to spend much money on converters," Iskandar added.
Iskandar said the Ministry of Finance had agreed to the proposal.
The ministry has proposed at least 15,000 taxis to be tax- exempt and on the road in Jakarta by the end of this year, Iskandar said.
However, Iskandar said that the government still had to build more stations offering natural gas. There are currently only 17 gas stations selling natural gas in the capital.