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Blowing smoke: City targets polluting vehicles
Car owners in Jakarta must ensure their vehicles pass emissions tests or risk being ticketed, as the Jakarta administration gets ready to team up with traffic police to enforce the ruling from next month
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ar owners in Jakarta must ensure their vehicles pass emissions tests or risk being ticketed, as the Jakarta administration gets ready to team up with traffic police to enforce the ruling from next month.
“Starting in November, we’ll ticket the owner of any public or private vehicle that doesn’t have a sticker saying it has passed an emissions test,” Ridwan Panjaitan, head of the Jakarta Environmental Management Agency’s (BPLHD) law enforcement unit, said Thursday.
He added police would also confiscate driver’s licenses and vehicle registration documents from non-compliant car owners.
Vehicle exhaust emissions account for 70 percent of air pollution in Jakarta, the world’s eighth most polluted city.
Ridwan said the enforcement, stipulated in a 2005 bylaw on air pollution, had been delayed because the administration needed time to educate the public and prepare the garage and mechanics needed for the tests.
He added there were 238 garage and 568 mechanics across the city certified to carry out the tests.
Agus Saleh, the manager of a certified garage on Jl. Fatmawati, South Jakarta, said he had ordered the stickers from the BPLHD but had not received any.
“We’re just waiting for the stickers,” he said.
Andrew Tanuji, the owner of a certified garage in Mangga Besar, West Jakarta, likewise had no
stickers.
“I haven’t received the stickers I ordered,” he said, adding he only had 100 leftover stickers from last year.
Andrew said he doubted the BPLHD would be serious about mandating the obligatory emissions tests.
“Last year, the BPLHD said they would impose the ruling in January [this year], but they’ve delayed it,”
he said.
He added many car owners were not aware of the November deadline to have the emissions tests done, pointing out there had been no increase in demand for the tests at his garage.
Ridwan said that from Oct. 20-29, the Jakarta administration would hold free emissions tests on several main thoroughfares.
Motorists without a sticker will be subject to on-site tests. If a car fails the test, the owner will get a formal warning to fix their car at a certified garage. (JP/mrs)
