Clean air becoming luxury for Jakartans

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Thu, 01/11/2007 2:55 PM | Jakarta

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Strategies to improve air quality in Jakarta do not seem to be working. Unhealthy ratings were recorded every day from May through November last year, according to a report released Wednesday by the Jakarta Environmental Management Agency.

The board said other than the dry season, high concentrations of microscopic dust and ozone were responsible for the condition.

""We suspect large-scale construction work on the busway corridors and the monorail project contributed to the high concentration of tiny dust particles in the air in the last six months,"" Rina Suryani, who heads the agency's natural resources monitoring unit, said.

Although no air monitoring stations are located in the vicinity of the construction sites, Rina said the strong, persistent winds of the dry season had carried the dust particles to the nearest stations.

Overall, there were 41 good air quality days last year, up from 28 in 2005.

Half of the 41 good days were experienced in January.

Residents have observed that skies are bluer during holidays, when there is less traffic on the road.

Jakarta currently operates five monitoring stations that measure dust particles up to 10 microns (PM10), carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (O3), nitrogen oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (N02).

However, the stations only recorded dust and ozone particles this year.

The administration also operates seven mobile monitoring units that record the content of lead, sulfur dioxide (SO2), N0 and N02 in the air.

Clean air campaigners have said the absence of CO, N02 and S02 in the records indicates the stations are not fully functioning and are consequently producing unreliable data.

They have repeatedly urged the administration to relocate the existing stations, which they say are disturbed by human activity.

In response, the administration established late last year a team to conduct a survey to assess the city's air monitoring station needs.

Rina said the three-month survey, which began in November, indicated the city needed at least 25 stations.

""The team recommended five monitoring stations be set up on roadsides to measure the pollutants produced by vehicles because the transportation sector contributes 70 percent of air pollution.""

She said the roadside stations would measure hydrocarbon (HC) in addition to particles of PM10, CO, SO2, NO, N02.

""If Governor Sutiyoso heeds our recommendations, Jakartans will be able to check the air quality every 30 minutes,"" she said.

The proposed locations of the roadside stations are on Jl. Kyai Tapa in West Jakarta, Jl. Thamrin in Central Jakarta, Jl. Raya Fatmawati in South Jakarta, Jl. Tol Jagorawi in East Jakarta and Jl. Yos Sudarso in North Jakarta.

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