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