The government is mulling over a plan to limit the number of vehicles operating in Jakarta ahead of the 2018 Asian Games by restricting the number of cars and motorcycles entering the city, an environment ministry official has said. 

The plan aims to reduce the level of air pollution in the capital, which has been exacerbated by vehicle exhaust. According to last month's real-time air quality index on Airvisual, an online air pollution hub, Jakarta ranks third among the 70 most polluted cities in the world, after Beijing and Dhaka.

“Record breaking may not happen at the Asian Games if the air quality is so bad that the athletes will easily become exhausted,” the Environment and Forestry Ministry's air pollution control director, Dasrul Chaniago, said recently.

The organizing committee of the world’s second largest sporting event had predicted earlier that the upcoming Games would see some of its records broken.

Dasrul has proposed that cars and motorcycles be prohibited from entering the capital one month prior to the Games next year, which is slated to kick off on Aug. 18.

“Indeed, it’s an extreme measure. However, Beijing did the same thing when it hosted the Olympics by temporarily closing down coal-fired factories. Apparently, it made the air quality better,” he was quoted as saying by kompas.com. (fac)