Jakarta has perpetually appeared on a list of cities with the worst air quality. Last year, the Indonesian capital was named the most polluted city in Southeast Asia.
Greenpeace Indonesia recently revealed a list of 15 most polluted cities in Southeast Asia. According to AirVisual, an air quality monitoring site, Jakarta’s average AQI (Air Quality Index) for all of 2018 was 45.3. The number is the highest among other Southeast Asian cities. Hanoi of Vietnam is named the second most polluted city in Southeast Asia in 2018. Indonesia is also named the world’s 11th most polluted country in 2018.
Leonard Simanjuntak, Head of Greenpeace Indonesia, claimed that the number of two and four-wheeled vehicles has exceeded the Jakarta’s capacity. He further mentioned that Jakarta is the 161st most polluted city in the world, with India’s capital, New Delhi at the top of the list. Greenpeace also cited the location of coal-fired steam power plants (PLTU) around Jakarta has contributed to about 33-36% of the city’s air pollution.
“The daily average air quality in Jakarta is 4.5 times worse than the limit set by the World Health Organization [WHO]. That number has also increased when compared to data from 2017, when the average daily air quality in Jakarta was still at 29.7,” Leonard said.
Source: Coconut Indonesia and The Jakarta Post
Image: AirVisual