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Emissions test app launched to boost control over air pollution
For clean air: A Transportation Agency officer conducts an emissions test in the National Monument (Monas) area in Central Jakarta
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or clean air: A Transportation Agency officer conducts an emissions test in the National Monument (Monas) area in Central Jakarta. The city administration launched on Tuesday the Android-based e-Uji Emisi mobile application that can direct motorists to pop-up services that carry out emissions test, among other features.(JP/Wendra Ajistyatama)
As the perennial and alarming issue of air pollution in the capital has been under public scrutiny for the past few years, the city administration has introduced an emission test mobile application to improve the monitoring of fuel combustion effectiveness and of pollutants emitted in a vehicle’s exhaust.
At the launch ceremony on Tuesday, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan said the application, named e-Uji Emisi, would go hand-in-hand with the taxation, legal licensing and parking system in accordance with the integration concept of a smart city.
“We are reviewing the scheme of providing incentives to those who pass the test through tax relief, parking fee reductions and better access to renewing vehicle registration documents,” he said.
Anies added that all private and public vehicles operating in Jakarta would be required to complete emission tests starting next year.
Jakarta Environment Agency head Andono Warih said on the same occasion that this Android-based application was integrated with the database of all motorized vehicle emission test results in the capital.
“The database enables both the respective test officers and the owners to check the history of a vehicle’s emission tests,” he said.
He added that the application had a variety of features, including information on emission tests conducted by the Transportation Agency, the regulations or legal bases for emission tests and the locations of all emission testers in the city.
Moreover, Andono said, the application allowed new test conductors anywhere in the city to register with the city administration.
e-Uji Emisi is part of the agenda for tightening emission tests as regulated by Gubernatorial Instruction No. 66/2019 on Air Quality Control, which was issued by Anies in response to public concern over the worsening air quality in the capital.
Anies announced the regulation earlier this month, hours after the first hearing of a civil lawsuit against him and several other regional administration leaders, as well as the central government, over the poor air pollution controls they exercised in the capital.
Andono said that in the framework of implementing the provisions for tightening emission tests on vehicles the city administration was also currently preparing to revise Gubernatorial Decree No. 92/2007 on emission tests and maintenance of motorized vehicles, which only required cars to undergo emission tests.
In the draft revision, he said, in addition to the obligation for every vehicle in Jakarta to pass the emissions test, it was mandatory for every test provider operating in the city to input the test results into his or her agency’s database using the same application.
“It simplifies the records. While previously we detected the status of vehicles passing emission tests by looking at a sticker attached to the vehicle’s body, we can now sufficiently look at the ‘check results’ feature in the application,” said Andono.
Andono said that as of this month 196,440 out of a total of about 3.5 million private cars in Jakarta were recorded to have undergone emission tests, equal to only 5.5 percent of all cars in the capital.
Meanwhile, he said, the emission tests were only available in 155 spots out of the ideal 933 spots, leaving a substantial number of 778 still available and needing to be filled soon.
“For that reason, we are also designing a provision, through the revision of the gubernatorial regulation, that will require public filling stations in Jakarta to extend their permits to also provide emission test facilities,” Andono said.
Since 2018, the city’s Environment Agency has been conducting intensive training in emission tests for providers throughout Jakarta. It has also been conducting free emission test roadshows in various locations, including offices, malls and campuses.
“We will continue and even intensify the training to both the providers and the public, especially regarding the emission test application,” Andono said. (syk)
