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Police, govt yet to set penalties for polluting vehicles
Niken Prathivi , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Thu, 11/05/2009 12:05 PM | City
Despite its previous plan, the Jakarta Environmental Management Agency (BPLHD) has not begun targeting owners of polluting vehicles, amid unclear sanctions and a lack of coordination with law enforcement agencies.
BPLHD law enforcement chief Ridwan Panjaitan said Tuesday he had just met with Jakarta Police to discuss the introduction of penalties by end of November.
"We have not decided on penalties for owners of polluting vehicles, because we still have differing opinions in the legal terms.
"However, I hope we can begin taking action by end of this month, through a ticketing mechanism," Ridwan told The Jakarta Post, adding that the timeline for this remained tentative.
Ridwan further said he supported the penalization of vehicle owners, based on the 2009 Law on Land Transportation and Traffic Controls (a revision of the 1992 and subsequent 1993 government regulations) and the 2009 Law on the Environment (a revision of 1997 Law on Environmental Management).
"In the meeting, some said we had to wait for a government regulation before we could implement the new laws. Personally, I think the issuance of regulations would add another two years to this process.
"Therefore, I recommended *the forum* hold another meeting - a higher level one - involving the Jakarta governor, the Jakarta Police chief, the chief prosecutor and High Court chief.
"This way, perhaps it would be easier for us to begin implementing the rule on emissions, for example where law enforcement officers use a ticketing mechanism with maximum penalties of two months' imprisonment or Rp 500,000 in fines - as stipulated in the new law," Ridwan said.
Meanwhile, the 2005 city bylaw on air pollution control stipulates that any owner of a vehicle that fails to pass an emissions test could be fined up to Rp 50 million and face six months in prison.
Responding to possible action being taken against vehicle owners, deputy traffic head Adj. Sr. Comr. Yaya Ahmudiarto said that Police would support any good and positive programs from the administration.
Mid last month, BPLHD reminded motorists to check their vehicle emissions at appointed garages, where they could obtain stickers if they passed an emissions test. The agency had previously planned to begin taking action against emissions violators this month.
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Les Williams (not verified), Jakarta Barat — Fri, 11/06/2009 - 10:17am
A most appropriate way in which to target vehicle emissions would be to firstly target Jakarta's antiquated "public transportation fleet". Forget the Private Motorists for now - let us see just how many of the Bajaj, Metro Mini, Kopaja, Mikrolet,Angkot and other passenger-carrying vehicles plying Jakarta's roads could obtain this "elusive sticker for passing an emissions test". Get these smoke-belching relics from the past off the road and you'll be half-way there towards solving the vehicle emissions problem.PAK HUD (not verified), LIBYA — Fri, 11/06/2009 - 4:44am
Just another boondoggle!! Another opportunity for corrupt government officials to line their pockets. Sticker, smicker, what a hoot. Let's hear it for Tommy. At least he did not pretend to be for the enviornment when he was involved in multimillion dollar scams.