Air Pollution Proposed Disaster Status, DKI Provincial Government: Impossible, Disrupt Economic Activities

Head of the DKI Jakarta Environmental Agency, Asep Kuswanto, rejected the suggestion of determining the condition of the air police in Jakarta as a disaster emergency.

According to Asep, the poor air pollution in Jakarta cannot be designated as a disaster. Because, this can have a bad impact on other things. For example, tarnishing the image of Indonesia which has just organized the 43rd ASEAN Summit in Jakarta.

"Determining a disaster status, especially in Jakarta, has an international impact. It is impossible for Jakarta to establish an emergency status, especially yesterday the ASEAN Summit," Asep told reporters, Friday, September 15.

Asep emphasized that if the poor air pollution in Jakarta is decided as a disaster emergency, development activities and the capital city's economy will definitely be disrupted. "Here it concerns many parties, there are embassies, there are offices, economic activity as well. So, if the emergency status of the disaster interferes with activities, the economic impact will definitely be very high," he explained.

This proposal was originally expressed by a member of the PSI faction of the DKI Jakarta DPRD, August Hamonangan, in a plenary meeting to convey the general views of the factions on the Raperda regarding the Amendment to the DKI Jakarta Provincial Budget for the 2023 fiscal year which was held on Wednesday, September 13.

August views that the determination of disaster status needs to be done as a serious effort to tackle cases of air pollution that continue to hit Jakarta. Meanwhile, according to him, air pollution often appears from year to year without any significant programs.

"We ask that there be concrete actions from the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government to make the air pollution prevention program a priority issue. If possible, air pollution can be designated as a disaster," August said.

Furthermore, August assesses that air pollution in DKI Jakarta can be categorized as a serious health threat, as a city with the worst air quality in the world, this air quality crisis must be declared an emergency air pollution disaster.

According to him, the determination of disaster status in air pollution has become an emergency because of a series of events that threaten and disrupt people's lives.

With the determination of this disaster status, the budget for air pollution prevention can be removed from unexpected expenditures (BTT).

Moreover, in the 2023 KUA-PPAS amendment document, the budget for the pollution prevention program and/or environmental damage to the DKI Environmental Agency has decreased.

"For the record, the BTT budget has not yet realized its absorption. So that with a budget allocation of Rp600 billion as budgeted for the 2023 KUA-PPAS changes, it will be very useful if allocated for air pollution prevention, including for public health checks affected by air pollution such as checking for ISPA for the community," he added.