Views differ on how to tackle Jakarta's air pollution

By John Aglionby

AS a location for a breakfast interview recently, the person I was meeting suggested we eat in the Shangri-La hotel's dining room on the 23rd floor so we could enjoy the view. That proved wishful thinking. We could barely see the road below, let alone the National Monument a couple of kilometers away.

The smoggy haze was all-enveloping, like a penetrable blindfold through which one could venture without quite knowing what lay beyond. It reminded me of the line written by the American poet Henry Longfellow: I shot an arrow into the air, it fell to earth I know not where.

Jakarta, according to United Nations statistics, is the third- most polluted city in the world after Mexico City and Bangkok. And a 1994 World Bank report on the city said: At present levels of emissions, the measurements of ... (pollutants) indicate serious damaging effects of air pollution to health."

Vehicle emissions cause 70 percent of the city's air pollution.

State Minister of Environment Sarwono Kasumaatmaja has taken the warnings to heart and is trying to tackle the issue through his Blue Sky program to prevent the city being overwhelmed by air pollution.

One of the main consultants on the project is Swisscontact, a Swiss business and technical cooperation firm. Its Jakarta representative, David Kuper, said there were three main ways to reduce air pollution in a city.

"You first need a good public transport system, run in parallel with the authorities inhibiting the use of private vehicles. Second, you must improve the city's traffic management and drivers' discipline and the third way is to reduce the pollution coming out of vehicles."

Blue Sky is concentrating on the last of these and has three main objectives, Kuper said.

"The first is to introduce the widespread use of unleaded gasoline, because then it would be possible for drivers to use catalytic converters. Then we need to clean up buses as much as possible to reduce total suspended particle emissions and finally, the country needs a good inspection and maintenance system."

The importance of introducing unleaded gasoline was highlighted by recent American research which said that for every microgram per cubic meter of lead in the air, people growing up in that vicinity will have lost one IQ point. The level in Jakarta ranges from two to five mg/m3.

Last October, President Soeharto told the state oil company PT Pertamina to introduce lead-free gasoline by 1999. Minister of Mines and Energy I.B. Sudjana reiterated this after witnessing vehicle-emission tests in January.

Pertamina is not rushing to increase the supply of unleaded gasoline though. And the public is not rushing to buy what is available because it costs Rp 975 (40 U.S. cents) a liter compared to only Rp 700 for Premium, the standard leaded fuel.

Within six months of changing to unleaded fuel, people would then be able to install a catalytic converter in their cars to remove other pollutants. "This would reduce vehicle emissions to about 3 percent of what they are currently," Kuper said.

The major obstacle to this is cost. Converting a car or bus to run on unleaded and with a catalytic converter would cost up to US$200. This is prohibitively expensive for many road users, particularly the bus and taxi companies who are responsible for most of the pollution.

An oil and gas expert for PT Jardine Insurance Brokers Scott Stewart said: "These firms are run on such tight profit margins, there has to be a financial incentive for them to change. Taking care of the environment for its own sake is a luxury they cannot afford to indulge in at the moment."

He believes there has to be a market for unleaded fuel and catalytic converters before Pertamina changes its refineries and government intervention, in the form of legislation would be required to initiate that.

The Association of Indonesian Automotive Manufacturers, a key player in the debate, disagrees with this approach. Its chairman, Herman Latif, said that while carmakers here are fully supportive of efforts to clean up emissions, the change has to come from individual drivers.

"It will not be easy to change drivers' behavior because that means changing the culture. And that cannot be done with a gun or a decree. Drivers have to be convinced the changes are for their own sake, safety and convenience," he said.

Latif believes the place to start is to persuade people of the importance of maintaining their cars on a regular basis.

"Drivers must learn the financial benefits of preventing their cars breaking down. Then they will be more aware of the benefits of changing to unleaded gasoline or natural gas."

So, as the debate is running somewhat in circles, with the government wanting Pertamina to take the lead, Pertamina wanting the running to be made by the market, and the market wanting government leadership, either through legislation or education programs, it will probably be some time before Jakarta's 2.5 million drivers see where their arrows land.