Jakarta has been consistently ranked among the 10 most polluted
cities globally since May and last week topped global rankings
compiled by Swiss air quality technology company IQAir. On
Monday, Jakarta ranked second.
During a cabinet meeting held on Monday, Indonesian President
Joko Widodo blamed the problem largely on "excessive road
traffic, long dry season, and manufacturing industry mainly
those using coal."
Environmental groups have long pointed to coal-fired power
plants as the cause.
The government said it would carry out random checks on vehicles
and force drivers to undergo emission tests. It will consider
fines for those who fail and license revocation for repeat
offenders.
It will also require emission tests to be part of the process of
obtaining a vehicle registration license. It did not say when
the measures would be introduced or how they would be enforced.
"We will start in Jakarta and when it gets better, we will
expand it to greater Jakarta," environment minister Siti Nurbaya
Bakar told a press conference.
President Widodo also advised companies to impose hybrid working
and urged weather modification in Greater Jakarta, saying dry
weather was contributing to pollution. Weather modification
includes techniques such as cloud seeding, already used in
Indonesia during the dry season, which involves shooting salt
flares into clouds to trigger rainfall.
"Also, keep monitoring the industrial sector and power plants
mainly surrounding Greater Jakarta," he said.
Other measures under consideration include requiring cars with
2,400 cc engine capacity and above to use 98-octane fuel, and
requiring each vehicle to carry four people.
Jakarta residents, which number well over 10 million, have long
complained of poor air.
A group of residents won a landmark civil case against the
government in 2021, prompting President Widodo to order the
establishment of national air quality standards to protect human
health and to tell the health minister and Jakarta governor to
devise strategies to control air pollution.
(Reporting by Ananda Teresia; Editing by Martin Petty and Susan
Fenton)
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