T

he 2018 Asian Games (Asiad) is just six months away and the government has decided to pay special attention to air quality in the host cities of Jakarta and Palembang, South Sumatra, given the
high level of air pollution in the country.

The Environment and Forestry Ministry recently informed President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo that to reduce the level of air pollution, which is partly caused by gas-guzzling vehicles, Indonesia needed to use cleaner gasoline with a EURO IV standard.

Speaking after a Cabinet meeting to discuss the country’s readiness to host this year’s Games, Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Panjaitan confirmed that reducing air pollution had already been on the government’s agenda ahead of the prestigious sporting event.

However, when asked about the details, such as securing supplies of EURO IV standard gasoline, Luhut said, “I don’t know the technical [details] yet, but yes we have plans to reduce air
pollution.”

Air quality monitoring conducted by the Environment and Forestry Ministry between January 2017 and January this year indicated that the level of fine particulate matter air pollutant, known as PM2.5, had reached 35 and 12 micrograms per cubic meter in Jakarta and Palembang, respectively.

Although the pollution levels in the two cities did not exceed national ambient air quality standards, which stood at 65 micrograms per cubic meter, the PM2.5 in Jakarta had exceeded the standard set by the World Health Organization, which is 25 micrograms per cubic meter.

Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya, who delivered the report to Jokowi on Monday, said vehicles should shift to EURO IV standard gasoline, such as Pertamax Turbo gasoline produced by state-owned energy firm Pertamina.

Last year, the ministry issued Decree No. 20/2017 on exhaust emission levels from new motor vehicles that are set in accordance with the EURO IV standard.

The decree states that automobiles, among other vehicles, must use fuel with a minimum research octane number (RON) of 91 and a sulfur content of no higher than 50 parts per million (ppm).

Siti said she had proposed to Jokowi to implement the regulation gradually, starting in Palembang and Jakarta.

“Pertamina must prepare gas stations where Pertamax Turbo or other EURO IV standard clean gasolines are available.”

The minister said in the letter her previous discussions with relevant ministries and state-owned energy firm Pertamina concluded that the latter could ensure the supply and distribution of EURO IV standard gasoline by May 2018 at the latest.

Pertamina external communication manager Arya Paramita said supplies of Pertamax Turbo gasoline were available at 800 Pertamina gas stations across Indonesia, including in the cities hosting this year’s Games.

Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan said the administration was set to prepare about 1,500 Transjakarta buses to accommodate visitors who wanted to go to the venues in the capital in order to help ease traffic congestion during the event.

When asked how Jakarta would implement measures to reduce air pollution, Anies said he would first study the data.

Meanwhile, Youth and Sports Minister Imam Nahrawi visited a training camp on Tuesday.

Imam, who was accompanied by undersecretary for sports achievement Mulyana, visited the aquatic and weight lifting training camp in Jakarta to check out each team as they prepared for the Games.

“I want to make sure that [things like] salaries, accommodation and other needs such as nutritional requirements and supplements are all in order. I will check on this regularly because the government has distributed all the funds to the sport federations,” he said. (dpk)