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Govt mulls shuttering Suralaya plant to clear Jakarta’s air
A senior minister says the government is looking at shutting down Banten's Suralaya coal power plant early to help reduce air pollution in Jakarta, which generally ranges between the third and fourth levels of the six-tier index for air quality.
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Chimneys emit smoke and steam on July 11, 2020 at the Suralaya coal-fired power plant belonging to Indonesia Power in Cilegon, Banten. (Reuters/Willy Kurniawan)
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oordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Pandjaitan says the government is studying the possible early retirement of the Suralaya coal-fired power plant in Banten to reduce air pollution in Jakarta.
The regions surrounding the capital are Indonesia’s industrial heartland, and Java is home to roughly 30 percent of coal-fired power plants nationwide, including some large power stations that only commenced operations last year, such as the Batang power plant.
The operating period of several coal-fired power plants on the island has also been extended beyond their initial plans, including the Suralaya plant in Cilegon, on the northwestern tip of Java.
“We discussed yesterday, [that] we will bring up the issue of the Suralaya coal power plant’s retirement. We must shut this one down,” Luhut said on Wednesday on the sidelines of the Indonesia Oil and Gas Supply Chain Management Summit in Jakarta, Kompas.com reported.
“Suralaya pollutes the air and has been [operating] for more than 40 years, so we want to study [its early retirement],” he added.
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Luhut went on to compare the unhealthy air in Jakarta to that in Nusantara, the country’s future capital that is under construction in East Kalimantan, the former having an air quality index (AQI) value of between 120 and 200 while the latter had an AQI value of just 6.
