Private cars to undergo gas emission tests
Private cars to undergo gas emission tests
JAKARTA (JP): The city administration will start to implement
gas emission tests on private vehicles in an effort to curb air
pollution.
The head of the city environmental bureau, Aboejoewono
Aboeprajitno, said yesterday it was high time for the city to
carry out emission tests on private vehicles, considering that
transport was the main culprit.
Recent research by the United Nations Development Program
indicated that Jakarta is the third-most polluted city in the
world, after Mexico City and Bangkok.
Governor Surjadi said that the city administration has
recently launched a clean-air campaign, locally called Prodasih,
in conjunction with the central government.
Data from the city's environment and monitoring study office
shows that transport contributes 67.10 percent to air pollution,
the industrial sector 18.9 percent, with 3.88 percent being
caused by the burning of garbage and 11.12 percent by domestic
activities.
According to Law No. 14/1992 on Traffic and Land
Transportation, all vehicles must undergo an emission test.
However, in the first phase the government decided to test only
public transport vehicles.
The government has been delaying the test for private vehicles
and it is not clear when it will be enforced.
The number of private vehicles in Jakarta is higher than
that of public vehicles. There are more than 1.8 million private
cars, compared to 700,000 public transportation vehicles.
Aboejoewono also urged the city administration to tighten up the
testing of public transportation vehicles.
"It is important to improve and tighten up testing to ensure
that only vehicles in good condition are on the city's streets.
The city's air condition will get worse in the near future if
nothing is done to remedy the situation," he said.
The head of the city's environmental study and monitoring
office has said that the air in the city is still tolerable, but
said that it was important to implement regulations to prevent it
from getting worse. (yns)