According to information provided by Swiss air quality monitoring company IQAir, Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, topped the list of the world’s most polluted cities on Wednesday, 9th of August, 2023. Since May, Jakarta has been among the top 10 most polluted cities worldwide.
Based on a United Nations report, air pollution is the most significant environmental health concern, estimated to cause seven million premature deaths annually.
The city and its surrounding areas comprise a megalopolis of over 30 million people, outpacing other severely polluted cities like Riyadh, Doha, and Lahore all week regarding PM2.5 concentration.
As the nation prepares to shift its capital city to Nusantara on Borneo island next year, President Joko Widodo told reporters on Monday, the 7th of August, that he aims to reduce “Jakarta’s burden” to combat pollution levels.
Additionally, President Joko Widodo said that the proposed metro rail system for Jakarta “must be finished” to cut down on pollution in Jakarta.
Residents have expressed concern about how pollution from coal-fired power plants, heavy traffic, and industrial haze hurts their quality of life and health.
“I am required to always wear a mask since the pollution seems to worsen. My body and my face are hurting, too,” Anggy Violita, a 32-year-old employee in Jakarta, told the media. “Last week, my entire family was sick for a week, and the doctor told me I should stay indoors,” she added.
In 2021, a court ruled in favour of a lawsuit filed by activists and citizens against the government, ordering President Joko Widodo to clean up the city’s notorious air pollution and ruling he and other top officials had been negligent in protecting residents.
Indonesia has pledged to stop building new coal-fired power plants from 2023 and to be fully carbon neutral by 2050.
However, despite an outcry from activists, the government is expanding the enormous Suralaya coal plant on Java island, one of the biggest in Southeast Asia, which is one of the reasons why it is hard for Jakarta to be carbon neutral, let alone pollution-free; hence the title of the most polluted city was given.
According to Greenpeace Indonesia, ten coal-fired power plants operate within a 100-kilometre (62 miles) radius of the capital city.
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