T

he air quality in big cities around Indonesia has improved this year, thanks to car-free days, according to a recent study by the Environment and Forestry Ministry.

The ministry on Thursday announced the latest results of its Langit Biru (Blue Sky) program, which rated 40 cities based on four main parameters: traffic management, quality of fuel, vehicle emissions and air quality along main roads.

'€œLast year, there were still 10 cities out of 45 studied that recorded air quality [worse than] the safety threshold,'€ the ministry'€™s director for air pollution management, Dasrul Chaniago, told reporters on the sidelines of the announcement in Central Jakarta.

This year, however, none of the 40 cities measured by the study recorded hazardous-substance concentrations in the air beyond the government safety limit. This year'€™s study, however, excluded five cities that suffered from hazardous haze caused by forest fires: Palembang, Banjarmasin, Pekanbaru, Jambi and Palangkaraya.

'€œIt wouldn'€™t be fair to include them in the report,'€ he said.

The program measured five hazardous substances: particulate molecules (PM), or dust particles with a diameter less than 10 microns; carbon dioxide (CO); hydrocarbon (HC); sulfur dioxide (SO2); and nitrogen dioxide (NO2).

According to health experts, HC and NO2 can cause lung cancer and respiratory infections; CO and NO2 can cause heart problems; while PM can cause cancer, bronchitis and respiratory problems.

Since last year, some cities, such as Medan, Semarang, Tangerang and Yogyakarta, have experienced a drastic fall in NO2 and HC.

During the launching of the study results, the ministry also gave awards to nine cities with the cleanest air in three separate categories: metropolises, big cities and medium cities.

The three metropolises with the cleanest air are Bandung in West Java, Surabaya in East Java and Central Jakarta, scoring 76.66, 75.96 and 74.6 respectively.

Central Jakarta mayor Mangara Pardede said that his city had made the top three for various reasons.

'€œOne of the things that has had the most effect and really helps to reduce air pollution is car-free day. We have added one more car-free day on Jalan Suryopranoto once a month. Also, all TransJakarta buses now use gas and all bajaj [three-wheeled taxis] also use gas,'€ he said on Thursday.

Furthermore, Mangara said that the government was actively conducting emissions testing on public buses.

According to Dasrul, since the ministry takes into account the efforts of local administrations to reduce emissions when scoring the cities, major cities like Bandung, Surabaya and Central Jakarta, with programs like car-free days were deemed the top three metropolises in terms of air quality.

The three big cities with the best air quality are Yogyakarta, South Tangerang and Denpasar, while the top three medium-to-small cities are Ambon, Bengkulu and Banda Aceh.

Initiatives like car-free days are proven to be effective in reducing pollution as vehicles cause 80 percent of air pollution.

Since the start of car-free day in Jakarta in 2002, up until 2012, there was a 34 percent reduction in dust levels, a 78 percent drop in nitrogen monoxide, a 70 percent reduction in carbon monoxide and a 14 percent cut in hydrocarbons.

Therefore, Dasrul argued, Indonesia should move away from cheap and dirty gasoline to higher-grade fuels as well as require motor vehicles to pass an emissions test before being granted a vehicle license (STNK).

Although the Home Ministry issued a circular urging regional governments to implement the emissions testing requirement, he said that it was not enough.

'€œRegional governments said they did not have enough certified workshops [to conduct emissions tests] and thus the line of vehicles would be too long. They are also waiting for a stronger legal umbrella. To make a local bylaw, a circular [from the Home Ministry] is not enough,'€ Dasrul said.

'€” JP/Hans Nicholas Jong