The price of clean air
The price of clean air
After years of much talk and effectively no action at all,
Jakarta's administrators seem at long last to have arrived at the
realization that the problem of pollution in the Indonesian
capital has reached the point where any further delay of action
is no longer possible.
The grim statistics the authorities have released to back
their argument for drastic action have only served to strengthen
the public's impression of indecisiveness -- not to say
incompetence -- on the part of the city administration in dealing
with the problem of pollution that has for decades plagued this
city of more than 10 million.
Be that as it may, the indisputable fact remains that for
Jakarta's citizenry the time of reckoning has arrived. As of
January this year, no fewer than 4.5 million motorized vehicles
plied the city's roads. About 4.4 million of them, or 98 percent,
were privately owned motor vehicles, comprising some 1.5 million
cars and three million motorbikes. Over the past six years, the
number of motorized vehicles on the roads has been growing at a
rate of between 7 percent and 11 percent annually, giving rise to
the projection that by 2014 all of the main roads in the city
will be congested around the clock with emission-belching
vehicles.
Although relatively small in number, the 600,000 two-stroke
motorbikes in Jakarta are major offenders in terms of air
pollution, one such vehicle emitting about the same amount of
exhaust gas as 20 reasonably maintained cars.
Little wonder Jakarta is ranked among the worst cities in the
world -- third after Mexico City and Bangkok -- in terms of air
pollution. During the whole of 2004, the city had only 51
environmentally "clean" days, the remaining 314 days being
classified either as "reasonable" or "bad".
The city's motor vehicles release 43,171 tons of nitrogen
dioxide into the air annually, as well as 33,876 tons of
hydrocarbons, 706,123 tons of carbon monoxide and 11,771 tons of
carbon dioxide. And the situation continues to grow worse by the
year.
In light of all this, no one will dispute the soundness of the
argument that the Jakarta City Council put forward late last
month that the number of motor vehicles in the city must be kept
in check. The City Council initially proposed to achieve this not
only by making regular emission checks compulsory, but by banning
from the streets all public transportation vehicles older than 10
years and private cars older than 15 years.
Obviously, it is difficult to see how such a plan could be
realized without causing social disruption in a city where the
overwhelming majority of the population is poor and a great
number of motor vehicles, whether public or private, are old
and decrepit. The sensible solution was to scrap the age limit on
cars, but retain the compulsory emission test requirement. If or
when the proposal is passed into law, Jakartans will be fined a
hefty Rp 50,000,000 if they neglect to have their cars tested
once every six months.
It could be argued that the same heavy penalties, or even
heavier, should also be given to polluting industries, which are
estimated to account for some 30 percent of the air pollution in
Jakarta. Jakartans will no doubt be closely watching whether the
authorities make good on their promise eventually to extend the
pollution ban to include the industrial sector.
As for smokers, the bad news is that a Rp 50,000,000 penalty
will await them if they light up in public places where smoking
will be prohibited.
There can be no denying that the new regulations will
inconvenience certain parts of the community. However, that is
the price Jakarta's citizenry must pay if the Indonesian capital
is to escape the lot of becoming an unlivable city by 2014. The
important point that must be made here is not that limitations,
in whatever form, are unacceptable, but how to make sure that the
burden of keeping the city viable as a functioning urban center
is spread out as evenly and equitably as possible across the
entire community.
Our only hope is that this well-intentioned plan is given the
chance to fulfill its objectives and that Jakarta is spared the
fate that doomsayers have predicted for the city and its
populace.
After years of much talk and effectively no action at all,
Jakarta's administrators seem at long last to have arrived at the
realization that the problem of pollution in the Indonesian
capital has reached the point where any further delay of action
is no longer possible.
The grim statistics the authorities have released to back
their argument for drastic action have only served to strengthen
the public's impression of indecisiveness -- not to say
incompetence -- on the part of the city administration in dealing
with the problem of pollution that has for decades plagued this
city of more than 10 million.
Be that as it may, the indisputable fact remains that for
Jakarta's citizenry the time of reckoning has arrived. As of
January this year, no fewer than 4.5 million motorized vehicles
plied the city's roads. About 4.4 million of them, or 98 percent,
were privately owned motor vehicles, comprising some 1.5 million
cars and three million motorbikes. Over the past six years, the
number of motorized vehicles on the roads has been growing at a
rate of between 7 percent and 11 percent annually, giving rise to
the projection that by 2014 all of the main roads in the city
will be congested around the clock with emission-belching
vehicles.
Although relatively small in number, the 600,000 two-stroke
motorbikes in Jakarta are major offenders in terms of air
pollution, one such vehicle emitting about the same amount of
exhaust gas as 20 reasonably maintained cars.
Little wonder Jakarta is ranked among the worst cities in the
world -- third after Mexico City and Bangkok -- in terms of air
pollution. During the whole of 2004, the city had only 51
environmentally "clean" days, the remaining 314 days being
classified either as "reasonable" or "bad".
The city's motor vehicles release 43,171 tons of nitrogen
dioxide into the air annually, as well as 33,876 tons of
hydrocarbons, 706,123 tons of carbon monoxide and 11,771 tons of
carbon dioxide. And the situation continues to grow worse by the
year.
In light of all this, no one will dispute the soundness of the
argument that the Jakarta City Council put forward late last
month that the number of motor vehicles in the city must be kept
in check. The City Council initially proposed to achieve this not
only by making regular emission checks compulsory, but by banning
from the streets all public transportation vehicles older than 10
years and private cars older than 15 years.
Obviously, it is difficult to see how such a plan could be
realized without causing social disruption in a city where the
overwhelming majority of the population is poor and a great
number of motor vehicles, whether public or private, are old
and decrepit. The sensible solution was to scrap the age limit on
cars, but retain the compulsory emission test requirement. If or
when the proposal is passed into law, Jakartans will be fined a
hefty Rp 50,000,000 if they neglect to have their cars tested
once every six months.
It could be argued that the same heavy penalties, or even
heavier, should also be given to polluting industries, which are
estimated to account for some 30 percent of the air pollution in
Jakarta. Jakartans will no doubt be closely watching whether the
authorities make good on their promise eventually to extend the
pollution ban to include the industrial sector.
As for smokers, the bad news is that a Rp 50,000,000 penalty
will await them if they light up in public places where smoking
will be prohibited.
There can be no denying that the new regulations will
inconvenience certain parts of the community. However, that is
the price Jakarta's citizenry must pay if the Indonesian capital
is to escape the lot of becoming an unlivable city by 2014. The
important point that must be made here is not that limitations,
in whatever form, are unacceptable, but how to make sure that the
burden of keeping the city viable as a functioning urban center
is spread out as evenly and equitably as possible across the
entire community.
Our only hope is that this well-intentioned plan is given the
chance to fulfill its objectives and that Jakarta is spared the
fate that doomsayers have predicted for the city and its
populace.