Air quality worsens in Greater Jakarta as govt yet to curb pollution
Tanjung Priok Port in North Jakarta is shrouded in haze from pollution on June 15, 2024. - Antara
JAKARTA: Worsening air quality in Greater Jakarta has brought to light the government's unfulfilled responsibility to ensure citizens' right to clean air and to curb emissions from coal-fired power plants and motor vehicles.
The Environmental Ministry reported that the Air Pollutant Standard Index (ISPU) in several areas in and around capital Jakarta had fallen into the 'unhealthy' category on Tuesday. So did their readings for several Greater Jakarta areas on Sunday.
The ministry identified motor vehicle emissions as the main source of pollution, contributing up to 57 per cent during the dry season.
Coal-fired industrial activities accounted for 14 per cent, dust from construction sites 13 per cent, open burning 9 per cent and the rest came from secondary aerosols formed by atmospheric reactions of pollutant gases.
Real-time monitoring by Swiss air quality technology company IQAir recorded that air quality readings in Jakarta were at 'unhealthy' levels, between 153 and 159, for three days last week.
While the air quality slightly improved on Sunday, to 142, classified as unhealthy for sensitive groups, Jakarta remained the fourth most polluted city in the world.
Several regions on the outskirts of Jakarta, such as South Tangerang in Banten and Bekasi and Depok in West Java also recorded poor scores, with the pattern persisting in recent weeks.
Many people took to social media to share images of the smog-covered skyline and IQAir readings in their areas, voicing concern over the worsening pollution and the health risks it imposes.
Greenpeace campaigner Yenny Silvia Sirait said that the poor air quality 'stemmed from the lack of initiatives and regulations to reduce the use of coal-fired power plants surrounding Jakarta', coupled with rising use of private cars and lack of green public transport.
Being labelled among the most polluted cities is not unfamiliar to Jakarta and its satellite cities.
The capital recorded highly unhealthy air quality for several months in 2023, sparking national concern and forcing the environment ministry to set up a task force and the government to temporarily shut down several units of the Suralaya coal-fired power plant in Cilegon, Banten.
It is one of 16 coal-fired power plants operating in Banten and West Java that environmentalists say are major emission sources.
'It is very likely the 2023 conditions will return,' Yenny of Greenpeace told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
'The government has not fully met its responsibilities, despite the air pollution lawsuit having been won.'
She was referring to a 2021 citizen lawsuit against the government. The court at the time ordered the Environment Ministry and the governors of Jakarta, Banten and West Java to tighten environmental regulations, improve air pollution monitoring systems and enforce periodic emissions tests for older vehicles.
Yenny urged the environment ministry to set up a clear road map for improving the air quality and suggested that regional administrations across Greater Jakarta should expand green public transportation and stop allowing the development of coal-fired power plants.
The ministry's deputy for pollution and environmental damage control Rasio Ridho Sani said in a press release on Tuesday that the ministry had 'taken intensive measures' to address air pollution.
This includes instructing state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina to speed up the distribution of low-sulfur fuels with sulfur content below 50 parts per million (ppm), which allow cleaner combustion. Pertamina's widely used Pertalite, meanwhile, contains up to 500 ppm of sulfur.
The ministry has also shut down nine polluting companies operating in Bekasi and Bogor in West Java and Tangerang, Banten. They are metal smelters, tofu and textile producers, hazardous waste processors and non-ferrous metal manufacturers.
Rujak Center for Urban Studies executive director Elisa Sutanudjaja, one of the petitioners of the 2021 air pollution lawsuit, said on Friday that: 'I don't see many changes now [following the court ruling]'.
She was unconvinced that new Jakarta Governor Pramono Anung's mandatory public transport use for civil servants could significantly reduce pollution particularly in the absence of policies that restrict the use of private vehicles. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
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