Walhi says city's masterplan has incorrect strategy
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) has criticized the implementation of the city's masterplan, which they believe has caused major problems for the public.
Zukri Saad, a member of the Walhi executive council, told The Jakarta Post yesterday that the city administration is the source of several difficulties because they have applied an incorrect strategy in managing the city's masterplan.
"If the Sudirman Central Business District starts operating, the business complex will be occupied by around 150,000 people and we do not have an integrated transportation system to serve them," he said.
He added that the environmental supportive resource in the area has been unable to support the activities.
"The Sudirman area is not supposed to be this crowded," he said.
Zukri said that the press of hundreds of thousands of people in some buildings on Jl. Sudirman and Jl. Thamrin during the rush hour has caused many problems, such as traffic congestion, inefficient use of water and air pollution.
Meanwhile, Saut M. Lubis, the Director of Sea and Air Pollution Prevention Control Agency (Bapedal), acknowledged that the air pollution in Jakarta was mostly due to the exhaust fumes from Jakarta's passing vehicles.
Previously, Governor Surjadi Soedirdja told the plenary session of the City Council at City Hall that one of the major success stories over the past year was how Jakarta had managed to keep its environment clean and healthy.
Surjadi said his administration would continue making the city cleaner, healthier and more beautiful by demolishing slums to pave the way for apartment construction. He also said he would set aside more plots for trees.
Difficult
Saut added, however, that applying emissions control standards was more difficult for motor vehicles than industry.
"Controlling the traffic emissions is not only a technical matter, the problem is related to the other factors such as social and economic conditions," he said.
"We could not rigidly apply a regulation to restrict the operation of all vehicles which discharge thick exhaust fumes from their mufflers because it would put many of the city busses out of operation," he said.
He said that the old vehicles usually discharge thick exhaust fumes.
"In Singapore, their government prohibited the operation of vehicles which had already been used for 10 years, while the same regulation would be judged as social discrimination here," he said.
However, Saut said that to solve the problem the government planned to produce low lead carbonate level gasoline from Exor I, the oil refinery owned by state-owned oil company Pertamina in Balongan, West Java.
He said that the lead content of Exor I production will only range from 0.2 grams per liter to 0.3 grams per liter.
Saut explained that before 1990 the lead content in the gasoline and fuel which was sold in Indonesia was around 0.7 grams of lead per liter to 0.84 grams per liter. Today, the government has been able to decrease the lead content to 0.44 grams per liter.
The unleaded fuel is an international standard fuel which contains less than 0.013 grams of lead per liter.
He said that unleaded gasoline is already widely used in many countries including in Singapore and Malaysia.
According to research carried by the Urban Environment Research Office (KPPL) in 1993, the content of pollutant elements in Jakarta's air was increased gradually.
The office reported that the dust element in the city's air has exceeded the city's tolerable standard of 260 micro gram per cubic meter.
The highest lead carbonate element in the city's air was found in Sawah Besar area in Central Jakarta with 11.75 micro grams per meter cubic and the lowest was found in Pondok Gede area in East Jakarta, with 0.08 micro grams per cubic meter. (03)