Government's plan to curb air pollution targets private cars

By Stevie Emilia

JAKARTA (JP): A beautiful woman stands on the side of a busy street near a pedestrian bridge, while in front of her passing vehicles emit dark fumes into the air. Over time, her skin darkens and the bridge rusts.

This scenario is featured in an advertisement for a skin lotion. While the ad was designed to sell a product, it still rings true. Car emissions, which contain hazardous pollutants like lead, hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide, are dangerous to human health and one of the main causes of the city's worsening air pollution.

But soon, Jakartans may be breathing fewer pollutants with the introduction of a new "polluters pay" plan -- an inspection and maintenance system for private cars -- which is expected to be implemented some time around June next year.

Quoting air quality reports by the World Bank and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the head of the city's environmental impact management agency, Aboejoewono Aboeprajitno, recently said the plan would be an initial step toward curbing air pollution.

Motorized vehicles, he said, were the main source of air pollutants and the plan would be a direct intervention to control this source of pollution.

"With the plan, we expect less air pollution," Aboejoewono said.

According to a report from the Central Bureau of Statistics, the number of private cars in the city jumped from 485,844 in 1990 to 1,104,474 in 1998. During the same period, the number of public vehicles increased from 169,027 to 311,471, while the number of motorcycles went up from 804,186 to 2,086,327.

Private cars in the city were estimated by JICA to annually emit 40,000 tons of hydrocarbon, 300,000 tons of carbon monoxide and 3,000 metric tones of particles.

The inspection and maintenance system is expected to reduce gasoline-powered vehicle's hydrocarbon level to 35 percent and carbon monoxide to 50 percent.

"There's also a projection of a 5 percent reduction in fuel consumption, or 65 million liters, for gasoline-powered vehicles following the (implementation of the) inspection and maintenance system," he said.

Dollaris Riauaty, the project adviser of Swisscontact, a Switzerland-based non-governmental organization, said the plan was already approved by Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso. However, instead of being implemented in January next year as earlier planned, it is expected to begin in June 2001.

"We're not ready to start in January due to the lack of infrastructure, so we expect that it will be implemented in June next year," she said, adding that the plan would be introduced to the community through the media prior to its implementation.

Plan

Under the plan, each private car in the city will be required to go through the inspection and maintenance system at a certified service station. If the car meets the required emission levels, it will receive a sticker and a certificate from the service station.

Car owners will have to present the certificate to renew their vehicle documents, while the sticker will be useful during random check by the traffic police.

Cars which fail to meet the required emission levels must undergo maintenance at the service station until they meet the required emission levels.

"If the car passes the test without having to go through maintenance, the owner will only have to pay a small amount of money. We estimate Rp 5,000 at the most, including for the sticker and certificate. But if the car fails, the maintenance costs are based on the prevailing fees," Dollaris said.

Currently, the administration has set the maximum emission level for gasoline-powered vehicles at 4.5 percent of carbon monoxide and 1,200 parts per million (ppm) of hydrocarbon. The exhaust of vehicles using diesel must have an opacity level of 50 percent.

"At the moment, we are only prepared to inspect and maintain private cars, while others, including public transportation vehicles and motorcycles, might get their turn later, in the long term," Dollaris said.

In the early stages of the plan, the city administration will open bids to private institutions -- which will be in charge of examining service stations and certifying them, training operators to perform the tests and setting up the software for the plan. The bidding's requirements and procedures will be established by the administration.

A commission to monitor the program also will be set up. The commission's members will include officials from the administration and representatives from the private sector and NGOs.

According to the program, only certified service stations will be allowed to inspect and maintain vehicles before issuing stickers and certificates.

The service stations then will record the data of those vehicles which passed the test, and routinely send the data to the city administration through electronic mail for further processing. The data, which will be used for monitoring, evaluation and impact analysis, will also be sent to the city police for cross-checking.

"So far, around 120 service stations are ready and have the facilities (for the testing). But for the plan, we will need at least 300 stations," Dollaris said.

Checking vehicle emissions is not new. Some vehicle owners in the capital since 1996 have enjoyed free emission checks, which are regularly organized by the city administration in cooperation with Swisscontact. The checks are aimed at reducing the level of vehicle emissions.

Swisscontact's emission checks of more than 5,000 private vehicles at some 100 service stations in Jakarta last November showed that about 35 percent of the cars tested failed to meet Jakarta's tolerable emission standard.

Dollaris earlier suggested the formulation of tougher regulations and a review of the present emission standard level by local authorities.

For instance, she said, cars manufactured before 1985 should emit less than 4 percent of carbon monoxide and 900 ppm of hydrocarbon. Cars made between 1986 and 1995 using a carburetor should not exceed 3.5 percent of carbon monoxide and 750 ppm of hydrocarbon, while those with an injection system should emit a maximum of 600 ppm of hydrocarbon.

Meanwhile, those cars manufactured after 1996 and using carburetors should not exceed 3 percent of carbon monoxide and 600 ppm of hydrocarbon. Cars equipped with injection systems should emit less than 2.5 percent of carbon monoxide and 400 ppm of hydrocarbon.

Dollaris said the proposed standards "could easily be met as long as (vehicle) owners maintained routine servicing for their cars".