Government moves to cut emissions in big cities
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.