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Jakarta celebrates another year as capital city
As Jakarta counts its remaining days as Indonesia's capital city, residents express hope that the government's plan to move the capital to Nusantara could help reduce some of its urban burdens. But doubts linger on whether the move will end the city's perennial problems.
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Visitors amble on June 21, 2024 near newly assembled carnival attractions at National Monument (Monas) Square in Central Jakarta. The city administration has readied several events, including an open-air carnival and firework shows, to celebrate Jakarta’s 497th anniversary on Saturday. (Antara/Akbar Nugroho Gumay)
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s Jakarta counts its days as the national capital, it is gearing up to celebrate its 497th anniversary on Saturday as though it will forever be the center of the country’s marvels, never mind problems, with residents expecting some improvements to the city’s perennial issues, from choking air pollution to infamous traffic.
This year’s anniversary celebrations are expected to be another gloomy one, as Jakarta has been shrouded by thin, gray smog for the past week, ranking it among the world’s most polluted cities on the list of Swiss air quality technology company IQAir.
For days, Jakarta has averaged an “unhealthy” level of 158 on the Air Quality Index (AQI), with PM2.5 fine particulate matter reaching a concentration 13 times higher than the safe threshold under the global air quality guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO).
The bad air quality has persisted since last year, with authorities scrambling to come up with various measures to clean the city’s air, from mandating vehicle emission tests to producing more rain through cloud seeding.
Now it’s 2024 and nothing has really changed for Jakartans, such as Siti Kuswatun and her 4-year-old son, who have been frequently ill with respiratory infections over the past 12 months due to the poor quality of the city’s air.
“We often experience coughing and flu-like symptoms that immediately disappear when we travel out of the city,” the 29-year-old homemaker from South Jakarta told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
“As a mother, Jakarta’s air pollution is really concerning,” she added.
