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Jakarta still lacks air quality meters despite new spotlight on pollution
The acting head of the Jakarta Environment Agency, Andono Warih, said the city currently only operated five air quality meters in different spots throughout the capital.
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Residents wear masks while waiting for public transportation on the roadside in Jakarta on July 7. (JP/Valerie Halim)
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nder an intense public spotlight illuminating Jakarta's heavy air pollution, the city administration has admitted that it still needs more measuring equipment to better gather accurate data about air quality.
The acting head of the Jakarta Environment Agency, Andono Warih, said the city currently only operated five air quality meters in different spots throughout the capital.
“They cannot yet cover all areas, but the equipment has been installed in each of the municipalities to represent each area,” he said on Friday as reported by kompas.com.
Besides the fixed air quality measurement stations, the city administration also relies on three mobile units used during certain events, such as at the weekly car-free-day locations.
Andono said that ideally, based on the city's population and area, Jakarta should have 13 to 25 air quality meters to properly record the pollution levels.
The poor air quality in Jakarta was put back under the spotlight because of a civil lawsuit recently filed by a group of residents against the central government and the regional administrations of Jakarta, Banten and West Java to push them to do more to tackle air pollution. (eyc)
