Tangerang cannot monitor pollution

Tangerang cannot monitor pollution

The Tangerang administration is currently unable to monitor
the level of air pollution caused by industrial firms and
vehicles in the city due to a lack of money to buy the necessary
equipment.

"We do have a device to monitor the level of air pollution,
but it is not working at the moment," the municipal environmental
agency chief, M. Akip, said on Friday.

He said the monitoring device had run out of ink and paper to
print data and graphs to show daily air pollution levels. But the
two components, which cost more than Rp 100 million, can only be
ordered from Japan because they are not sold in the country.

According to Akip, the agency has no money at all to buy ink
and paper from Japan and, therefore, he would request the money
from next year's municipal administration annual budget.

Meanwhile, chief of the agency's division on environmental
impact management (APDL) M. Harun said that even though the
device could not function, the agency could still continue
monitoring air pollution manually.

He added the existing monitoring equipment had been donated by
the Japanese government in 1998, along with its ink and paper.
But after three years of operating, the ink and paper had run out
so it could no longer function. --JP