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esidents of Kampung Muara Bahari in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, have long complained that activities at Nusantara Port near their housing compound caused respiratory and eyesight problems due to the thick dust created by coal unloading activities.

Suwarno, Muara Bahari'€™s head of neighborhood unit (RT) No. 6 of community unit (RW) No. 13, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday the activities began around a year ago and last year, residents had also conveyed a formal protest to state port operator Pelindo II, known as Indonesia Port Corporation (IPC), concerning pollution caused by the activities.

'€œLast year, some residents had to be hospitalized due to respiratory infections and rashes due to the dust. The same dust problem has reappeared,'€ he said.

According to Suwarno, last year Pelindo II said the dust problem was caused by a broken watering machine used to reduce the amount of dust before unloading. However, around three months ago, the company built a wall separating the port and the village so that residents no longer knew what was happening beyond the wall.

'€œAll we know now is that the trees and the floor are covered by black dust,'€ he emphasized.

Residents expected IPC to once again scrutinize why the dust had reappeared and take all necessary measures to solve the problem, Suwarno said.

'€œI'€™ve talked to the public relations division of Pelindo II and they asked me to send photos showing how the dust has effected our houses and neighborhood,'€ he revealed.

IPC spokesperson Sofyan Gumelar said all unloading activities at the port had followed best standard practices, including watering the coal before unloading. However, strong wind and bad weather in the past few days had brought the dust to Muara Bahari.

'€œIn addition, I presume that the quality of coal unloaded in the past few days was very low so that the dust was easily blown by the wind,'€ he explained.

He said he would communicate with the shipping company that responsible for the unloading to find the precise cause of the air pollution and would try to solve it this week. He had also discussed the matter with Muara Bahari residents, he added.

'€œI still need to check the name of the shipping company. When the same problem appeared last year, we improved the unloading procedures to ensure the dust no longer disturbed residents,'€ Sofyan said.

The coal came from state-owned coal miner PT Bukit Asam'€™s mining site in South Sumatra and from the port, the coal would then be transported to cement maker PT Holcim Indonesia'€™s factories in Cibinong, West Java, he said.