The Community Encourages Candidates For Governor Of Jakarta To Prioritize Air Pollution Solutions

JAKARTA - Ahead of the final debate of the Jakarta Pilkada with the theme Urban Environment and Climate Change, Air Talk, organizations that fight for the right to clean air, hold public discussions BIRU TALKS entitled "Challenging the Jakarta Cagub to Complete Air Pollution" in Tebet, Jakarta, on Thursday, November 14 evening.

This discussion was attended by representatives from the three pairs of candidates for Governor and Deputy Governor of Jakarta 2024, namely Ridwan Kamil, Kun Wardana, and Pramono Anung, who revealed the urgency of the air pollution crisis in Jakarta. The three of them conveyed their respective ideas to handle it.

In the discussion session, people from various levels asked questions and criticized the ideas of each pair of candidates. One of them was Didi Suwandi, Chairman of the Rusunawa Marunda Community Forum (FMRM), who reminded the importance of monitoring and strict law enforcement to polluting sources. He explained that the problem of pollution in the Marunda Area, North Jakarta, was due to dust from coal stockpiles.

"The supervisory function needs courage and firmness from leaders in Jakarta so that they don't throw away their responsibilities again," said Didi.

On that occasion, Jakarta Governor Candidate number 3 Pramono Anung conveyed the 6P program for air pollution control, namely; vehicle emission control; controlling industrial pollution with the central government and the regional government of agglomeration; transit/TOD-oriented development; utilization of renewable energy; additional green open space; as well as adding air pollution measuring equipment at several points.

"If Jakarta wants to achieve clean air, lessons can be learned from Beijing, Shanghai, and Mexico City, with a main focus on reducing emissions from coal and pertalite power plants," he explained.

Meanwhile, Candidate for Governor of Jakarta number 1 Ridwan Kamil also conveyed his vision through 12 strategies, such as facilitating residents to reduce mobility by working and doing activities in one area, expanding public transportation, encouraging the use of electric vehicles, planting more trees, expanding green open space, and increasing the number of sensors and implementing emission tests.

"The problems in Jakarta, including the environment, are rooted in spatial injustice. I will fight for this," he said.

Meanwhile, Jakarta Deputy Governor Candidate number 2 Kun Wardana, representing Candidate Governor Dharma Pongrekun, closed the session by expressing its commitment to overcome air pollution through data transparency and integration, law enforcement, low-emission transportation, and inter-regional collaboration.

"Three key technologies are needed to support this, namely: air quality monitoring stations, remote sensing technologies that take advantage of pattern recognition and remote sensing, as well as the Internet of Things (IoT) in smart cities development," he concluded.