Daytime speed limit to be slashed to 100 kph to cut pollution: NOS

DutchNews, November 12, 2019 

Photo: Wikimedia Commons 

The cabinet is planning to cut the maximum speed limit to 100 kph nationwide between 6am and 7pm, in an effort to cut nitrogen-based pollution, sources have told broadcaster NOS.

 Higher speed limits of 120 kph and 130 kph would be allowed at night – on roads which currently have the higher speed limit, ministers are set to announce Wednesday. 

Ministers hope that cutting the speed limit will compensate for the extra pollution generated by the construction industry – particularly of new homes. A large number of building projects have been put on hold after the Council of State ruled current measures to reduce nitrous oxide and ammonia pollution are insufficient. 

Prime minister Mark Rutte has declined to confirm the speed limit cut, but says he aims to present the package of measures on Wednesday morning. 

Also on the table is a plan to add enzymes to cattle feed so they produce less ammonia in their manure, NOS said.

Ministers outline the government’s plans. Photo: Phil Nijhuis / HH

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Speed limit cut is a ‘rotten’ rule but necessary to build homes, Rutte says
Ministers aim to relax PFAS pollution rules after new limit halts earth-moving work

“Afraid of Love” + “What’s Wrong Today”, Laguna Hills, California, US(2), Dec 9, 2018 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

• Stagnation of the current US Politics: Compassioned (US) leaders will arise in the future
• Shortage of fresh/drinking water: Invention to make salt from salt water magnetic and remove it with water desalination process in high volumes
• Pollution on Earth: 1 - Stop killing the environment! / 2 - The rise of temperature on Earth is “temporary” and is part of the "regular" Watercycle.
• Replacement of current fossil energy source: Use of magnetics based (small/big) engines to produces electricity / free energy
• Plastic pollution in the oceans: Invention to remove the plastics gradually from the oceans

Dutch inventors roll out river plastic clean-up barge
Ocean Cleanup move to the Pacific, ‘a milestone’ says Dutch inventor

Photo: The Ocean Cleanup

Paris mayor wants to ban polluting trucks, buses

Yahoo - AFP, 28 Jan 2015

Traffic clogs the rue de Rivoli in Paris on August 5, 2014. The mayor of Paris

 wants to ban polluting buses and trucks in the French capital from July (AFP Photo/

Fred Dufour)

Paris (AFP) - The mayor of Paris said she wants to ban polluting buses and trucks in the French capital from July to fight pollution in one of the world's most visited cities.

Paris has a relatively high population density and tourists are often surprised by the traffic levels in and around its historic sights.

The city also experiences periodic pollution spikes, forcing authorities to impose temporary speed limits on motorists, make public transport free and even ban vehicles from running on certain days.

Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, seen here at

 the city hall of Paris on November 17, 2014,

 will formally submit her anti-pollution plan

next month (AFP Photo/Stephane de

Sakutin)

"I want to ban the most polluting buses and heavy goods vehicles from July 1, 2015," Anne Hidalgo told Le Monde daily in an interview published Wednesday.

"And on July 1, 2016... this ban will extend to all of the most polluting vehicles," she said, adding that the area where the ban would be enacted was still under negotiation.

"I would like this ban to first apply to the whole of Paris, apart from the peripherique (ring road around the city) and the woods of Paris," she said.

Hidalgo is due next month to formally submit her anti-pollution plan for the city of more than two million people.

She has already announced she wants to ban all diesel vehicles by 2020, limit cars in the city centre, and extend zones where the speed limit is fixed at 30 kilometres (18 miles) an hour.

She also wants to double the amount of cycle lanes as part of a 100-million-euro ($113 million) bike development plan, and roll out a system of electric-powered bikes along the same lines as the city's popular velib temporary bike hire network.

Hidalgo said if her plan to ban polluting trucks and buses came to fruition, she planned to incentivise businesses to buy cleaner vehicles through financial aid and prime rate loans in a bid to avoid affecting deliveries in the city.

Related Articles:

Seven million vehicles banned from Chinese roads in 2014

Jakarta Governor Says Out With Old Cars

Rotterdam to tackle air pollution, ban old cars from city centre

Seven million vehicles banned from Chinese roads in 2014

Want China Times, Xinhua 2015-01-17

Smog covers the Hun River Bridge in Shenyang, Jan. 12. (File photo/Xinhua)

The Chinese government met several air and water pollution control targets for 2014, said the Ministry of Environmental Protection on Thursday.

In 2014, about 7 million vehicles were banned from the road nationwide because they failed to meet exhaust emission standards, said Minister of Environmental Protection Zhou Shengxian at the annual meeting of chiefs of environment departments across the country.

About 50,000 coal-fueled furnaces were shut down. Denitrification devices were installed in coal-fueled power generators with a total capacity of 190 million kilowatt (kW). Desulfurization devices for coal-fueled power generators were upgraded, with a total capacity of 95.76 million kW.

Steel and cement plants also underwent large-scale denitrification and desulfurization renovations.

The measures will greatly contribute to air pollution control, Zhou said.

Last year, the country also built new sewage processing plants with a total capacity of 9 million tonnes.

"We have fulfilled the annual targets set by the 2014 government work report," Zhou said, referring to a report submitted by Premier Li Keqiang to the national legislature in March.

This year, the government will work to ban all vehicles nationwide that were registered before the end of 2005 and fail to reach exhaust emission standards, Zhou said.

All vehicles that fail to meet emissions standards, regardless of their registration date, will be banned in the three highly polluted industrial regions of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta.

The government will continue to offer preferential policies for power plants that adopt denitrification and desulfurization renovations, Zhou said.

The dense smog that chokes China's big cities and industrial areas, including the country's capital, Beijing, is believed to result from excessive use of fossil fuels and vehicle exhaust.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top economic planning body, said Wednesday that Beijing, Tianjin and cities in Hebei will reduce their coal consumption in 2017 by 63 million tonnes from 2012 levels.

The reduction will include elimination of outdated production capacity and use of cleaner energy such as hydro, nuclear, wind and solar.

Jakarta Governor Says Out With Old Cars

Jakarta Globe, Deti Mega Purnamasari, Jan 09, 2015

Vehicles are caught in a traffic jam in Jakarta. (Reuters Photo/Beawiharta)

Jakarta. Indonesia’s capital is planning to limit access to the city’s roads for ageing vehicles by slapping heftier taxes on those that have passed a certain age.

“We don’t want the same kind of [traffic] policies that are implemented in Singapore or China — they are too harsh,” Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama said at City Hall on Friday.

Singapore car owners are required to buy a certificate of entitlement that is valid for only 10 years, despite the fact that a personal vehicle can operate safely for longer, up to 17 years. Cars that have reached their 10-year expiration date are scrapped. Then there is the additional registration fee, which ranges from 75 percent to 100 percent of the car’s market value depending on its age.

Basuki said a slightly more lenient policy was needed in Jakarta to reduce air pollution and accidents. The regulation, he said, would also force some car and motorcycle owners to leave their vehicles at home and switch to public transport.

“Our economy is not as advanced [as Singapore] so we will allow [people to have older cars],” he said. “But we want a vehicle’s age to be limited to, let’s say, 10 years.”

“We are still working out the details of the regulation.”

An alternative would be to bar older vehicles from entering Jakarta’s major thoroughfares, Basuki added, particularly those streets where the planned electronic road pricing scheme will be applied. Officials say the ERP could be up and running as early as January 2016.

Related Article:

Basuki Targets Wider Motorcycle Ban in Jakarta

Rotterdam to tackle air pollution, ban old cars from city centre

DutchNews.nl, November 28, 2014

Rotterdam council plans to improve the city’s air quality and has drawn up a €12m package of measures which locals will be asked to approve, Dutch media report on Friday.

The plans include getting rid of polluting cars and slashing pollution levels. In addition, the council’s own fleet of vehicles will be overhauled to reduce its pollution rate by 25%. 

The council is also considering financially rewarding owners to get rid of polluting cars. In addition it suggests that no more parking permits will be given for diesel vehicles built before 2005 and petrol-driver cars predating 1992.

More charging stations will be built for electric vehicles and there will be better bike facilities. 

The council also wants to ban lorries from the ‘s Gravendijkwal, currently the city’s most polluted road and a major highway that leads to the Maas tunnel. Transport organisations have already criticised the lorry ban proposal, saying it will force freight firms to use longer, more expansive routes, the Financieele Dagblad reported.

Research shows Rotterdammers live three years less than the average Dutch national, which is partly due to road pollution.

Utrecht and Amsterdam have already taken steps to reduce the number of polluting cars in their city centres.

6 million polluting cars to be scrapped in China this year

Want China Times, Xinhua 2014-06-12

Smog shrouds an expressway in Wuhan, Hubei province, May 21. (File photo/Xinhua)

China plans to remove 6 million high-emission vehicles off the road this year to reduce pollution, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said on Tuesday.

More than 2.4 million vehicles will be taken off roads in the municipalities of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province, along with another four municipalities and provinces along the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta, according to the ministry.

An action plan, issued by the General Office of the State Council, China's cabinet, has been distributed to local authorities, according to the ministry.

Meanwhile, a ministry spokesperson on Tuesday urged local authorities to formulate stimulus policies and enforce stronger laws to eradicate such vehicles.

Pollutants discharged by cars are blamed as a leading cause for choking air pollution and lingering smog in parts of the country. In Beijing, cars discharged more than 30% of the capital's PM 2.5, a particulate matter with a diameter less than 2.5 micrograms that caused hazardous smog. In Shanghai, the percentage is about 25%.

China has been the world's largest auto market and producer for five consecutive years, with production and sales both exceeding 20 million units for the first time in 2013, while official figures showed car ownership increased to 137 million last year.

"Huangbiaoche," or "yellow-label cars," referring to vehicles that fail to meet national emission standards, account for about 10% of the country's total number and emitted about half of all car pollutants, official figures showed.

Cuba lifts 50-year-old car import ban

End of the road for 1950s vintage cars as restrictions are lifted in Cuba

The Telegraph - AFP, 19 Dec 2013

Opening Cuba's domestic car market to imports is likely to have fateful
 consequences for the lovingly maintained 1950s cars on the island.
Photo: Getty Images

Cuba will allow unrestricted car imports for the first time in 50 years, marking the end of an era for the 1950s Chevys, Fords and Pontiacs that have survived the ban.

The decision to allow cars to be imported for sale at market prices on the island was taken on Wednesday by Cuba's council of ministers, according to the official newspaper Granma.

It said the decision will gradually free up retail sales of all manner of vehicles – automobiles, vans, trucks and motorcycles – and ends the practice of granting some Cubans special permission to bring in vehicles as a privilege.

Granma acknowledged the so-called "letters of authorisation" issued by the transport ministry had generated "resentment, dissatisfaction and, in not a few cases ... (were) a source of speculation and enrichment."

Holders of the letters, however, will still be first in line to buy cars while the new system is phased in, Granma said.

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• The Cuban assassin with a deadly secret: 'I shot JFK’ 15 Nov 2013
• Fidel Castro: I didn't expect to live this long 15 Aug 2013
• Obama shakes hands with Castro 10 Dec 2013

Opening Cuba's domestic car market to imports is likely to have fateful consequences for the lovingly maintained 1950s cars on the island.

But the changes are a long-awaited element of President Raul Castro's attempts to gradually liberalise Cuba's Soviet-style economy.

Separately, Mr Castro's brother Fidel praised his brief encounter and handshake with Barack Obama in South Africa.

"I congratulate comrade Raul for his brilliant performance, and especially for his firmness and dignity when with a friendly but firm gesture he greeted the head of government of the United States and said to him in English: 'Mr President, I am Castro.'"

Mr Obama stopped and shook hands with the Cuban president on his way to the podium December 10 to speak at a memorial in Soweto for the late Nelson Mandela.

Neither side made much of the exchange but Fidel's remarks, in an article published in Granma, made clear that he approved of his brother's handling of the moment.

The handshake was the first between leaders of the two Cold War adversaries since 2000, when then US president Bill Clinton shook hands with Fidel at the UN General Assembly in New York.

It was only the second time that American and Cuban presidents have shaken hands since the Cuban revolution in 1959.

Raul replaced Fidel as Cuba's president in 2006, but as the father of the Cuban revolution the elder Castro remains hugely influential.

Edited by Chris Irvine

Related Articles:

Cuba announces plan to end dual currency system

"Recalibration of Knowledge" – Jan 14, 2012 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Channelling, God-Creator, Benevolent Design, New Energy, Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Reincarnation, Gaia, Old Energies (Africa, Terrorists, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela ... ), Weather, Rejuvenation, Akash, Nicolas Tesla / Einstein, Cold Fusion, Magnetics, Lemuria, Atomic Structure (Electrons, Particles, Polarity, Self Balancing, Magnetism), Entanglement, "Life is necessary for a Universe to exist and not the other way around", DNA, Humans (Baby getting ready, First Breath, Stem Cells, Embryonic Stem Cells, Rejuvenation), Global Unity, ... etc.) - (Text Version)  

“…  I want you to watch some countries. I don't have a clock [this statement is Kryon telling us that there is no time frame on his side of the veil, only potentials]. I'll just tell you, it's imminent [in Spirit's timing, this could mean as soon as a decade]. I want you to watch some countries carefully for changes. You're going to be seeing changes that are obvious, and some that are not obvious [covert or assumptive]. But the obvious ones you will see sooner than not - Cuba, Korea [North], Iran, of course, and Venezuela. I want you to watch what happens when they start to realize that they don't have any more allies on Earth! Even their brothers who used to support them in their hatred of some are saying, "Well, perhaps not anymore. It doesn't seem to be supporting us anymore. "Watch the synchronicities that are occurring. The leaders who have either died or are going to in the next year or so will take with them the old ways. Watch what happens to those who take their place, and remember these meetings where I described these potentials to you. …”

Owners overlook vehicle roadworthiness test

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Thu, 11/06/2008 10:29 AM  

A middle-aged man holding a green A4 envelope in his hand was about to enter one of the city's vehicle testing centers when four men ran up to him and started talking at him. 

"Sir, want to have a KIR (vehicle roadworthiness test), sir?" they kept asking, until the man finally handed his envelope to one of them. 

This scene is quite a common one at any of Jakarta's five vehicle testing centers, located in Ujung Menteng and Cakung, East Jakarta, as many people prefer to pay a middleman for their vehicle roadworthiness test. 

The test, aimed to measure the roadworthiness of public vehicles, is based on eight indicators, including the condition of the tires, lamps, brakes, engine and windows and level of exhaust emissions. 

"Many drivers or vehicle owners are not able to do all tests. That's why they need us," a middleman at the Cakung testing center told The Jakarta Post last week. 

The man, eating lunch with two friends, said there were dozens of scalpers or middlemen, known locally as calo, operating around the building everyday. He said they could be recognized as they stood out among the blue-uniformed officers. 

Rosmayani, owner of three public minivans, agreed help from a middleman was useful for her and other vehicle owners. 

"I paid a middleman Rp 240,000 (US$24) to help me because my documents were incomplete," said Rosmayani, who brought one of her minivans to the center. 

According to the 1999 city bylaw on fees and taxes, an owner of a small vehicle such as a taxi or public minivan has to pay about Rp 100,000 for the test and administrative fees. Owners of larger vehicles, such as the air-conditioned buses Mayasari Bakti or Steady Safe, are charged about Rp 200,000 each. 

All public vehicles must undergo the test every six months, but thousands of old and dilapidated public vehicles are still in operation and are seen frequently across the city. 

At the Pulo Gadung testing center, a Kopaja minibus driver who was waiting for his roadworthiness certificate said he had spent more than Rp 1 million to pay a middleman to have his old bus pass the test. 

"Well, I just need to wait here because the middleman is taking care of everything," he said. He explained that the middleman would share the money with the officers responsible for all the test procedures. 

About 10 minutes later he drove his old bus out of the center, black smoke spewing from its exhaust pipe. 

Another bus driver was in one corner of the center's parking lot busily swapping the tires on his bus with new ones. 

"It has become common practice. Everyone is busy fixing up their vehicle temporarily before taking the test," said Ilyas, a bus driver who has been visiting the testing center regularly since 1979. He said the officers and middlemen were friends. 

"Just pay first, then you can nap while they get your roadworthiness certificate ready," he said, watching an officer in a blue uniform having lunch with a middleman nearby. 

Data from the city's traffic police for 2003-2007 show that Kopaja vehicles were involved in 379 accidents in that period, while Metromini minibuses were involved in 730 accidents. Another 624 accidents involved public minivans. 

Recently, the Pulo Gadung testing center released data stating that 6,609 public buses are in operation despite having not renewed their roadworthiness certificates. 

But according to the head of the Jakarta chapter of the Land Transportation Owners organization (Organda), Herry Rotty, many buses are not in operation because of the fuel price rise. 

"The number of buses (on the road) has fallen to 70 percent," he said Thursday. 

Early this year, the organization claimed there were about 60,000 public transportation vehicles in Jakarta, including 4,200 large buses, 4,800 minibuses, 13,000 minivans, 23,300 taxis and 15,000 bajaj (three-wheeled vehicles). 

One of the middlemen at the Pulo Gadung testing center agreed that fewer vehicles had been coming in for the roadworthiness test since the fuel price rise in the middle of the year. 

Nevertheless, the "unseen" practice continues. 

On another corner, a Metromini minibus driver received stamped documents and payment receipts from an officer who then put a pair of small metal plates on the bus's body, as proof it had been checked by the authority. 

After handing Rp 5,000 to the officer, the driver told his three assistants to start pushing the bus. It turned out that this bus, which had just passed its test, had a flat battery and could not be started. (hwa)

Related Article:

Tech failures cause half RI's accidents

New cars running low on gas, hit by fuel price hikes

Debnath Guharoy, The Jakarta Post

The industry hit hardest by the twin fuel price hikes of 2005 was perhaps the automotive industry, more precisely, the new-car market. No surprises there, considering cars are a family's second-largest "investment" and unlike the home, they run on fuel.

The recovery that's now taking place in the car market has switched dramatically in favor of used cars, not new cars. These conclusions are based on Roy Morgan Single Source, Indonesia's largest syndicated survey with 25,000 respondents annually, covering 90 percent of the population over the age of 14.

The survey also reveals that on the broader canvas of transportation, the use of public transportation has also remained flat since September 2005. People, especially at the lower end of society, are using transport more for essential travel and seemingly less for leisure.

About 60 million people around the country regularly travel by bus, while almost million use the train. These numbers have remained flat. In contrast, two-wheeler buying intentions are now on the way up reflecting the confidence of the middle class.

Moving up the socio-economic ladder, about 12 million people often travel by taxi, almost unaffected by recent inflation, but only 4 million households have a car in urban Indonesia. These do not include institutionally owned vehicles like company or government-owned cars used at home after working hours. Nor do these figures include the few rural homes that have cars.

Demand has dipped for cars, and crashed in the case of new cars. The signs of sluggishness over the near term are a major problem for the automotive industry. On the other hand, the administrative authorities in major cites like Jakarta, for example, already overwhelmed by traffic congestion, are probably sighing with relief.

Dealers in used cars are in for good times ahead -- witness the upward swing in demand. How is the new car industry reacting? Only by understanding the people who have dropped out of the market, and analysing the needs of people who remain interested in new cars, will automotive manufacturers be able to chart a course for the future.

Any attempts to simply "move metal" off the factory floor based on knee-jerk reactions will be fraught with danger. For years, the Toyota brand has gone from strength to strength with well over half of all people planning to buy a new car actively considering the brand, across all categories.

A lot of that success is thanks to the ubiquitous Kijang. Today, that grip on the new car buyer's mind has loosened with only 43 percent of intending purchasers planning to buy a Toyota model. The signs of change in market dynamics were ignited by the price of fuel, so that a different marketplace exists today, which is a problem for some and an opportunity for others.

These are the facts that Toyota needs to respond to in its attempts to protect market share and brand equity. These are the same facts that all their competitors need to understand if they wish to seize the opportunities presented by a market in flux.

This is yet another industry that has ignored the influence of the Indonesian woman. All of the "evidence" that carmakers have traditionally based their marketing upon has consisted of registration papers and financing documents, usually in the name of the man of the house.

Yet, over a third of the people currently intending to buy a new car are women. Whose name finally appears on the documentation is almost irrelevant. The people who often, but not always, influences the decision to purchase is the primary owner-driver, so that it is these people who are vital to success in the marketplace.

If the current demand for new cars stands at 168,000 units, isn't it important to understand the key drivers, as well as the lifestyles and needs of the owner-drivers themselves?

But look around you and what do you see in the media out there? Billboards can be justified by the need to command a "presence" but the use of free-to-air TV defies logic.

The fact that almost everybody watches TV everyday is not an intelligent rationale when it's obvious that most of the viewers won't be buying a new car any time soon. If "the medium is the message", then Pay TV would be a far more focussed choice.

Combine that with selected newspapers and magazines, radio stations in cities where the intenders reside, and promotions and financing packages offered from appropriate shopping malls, then today's scarce resources would end up being put to better use.

All it takes to verify the media selections is a simple quantification of people intending to buy, say, a "small car", the people who will consider or reject the makes within that segment and the capability of each title, radio station, channel or even major shopping mall to reach that identified group.

Savvy marketers and their agencies are doing precisely that today, across every conceivable product category. It gives a whole new meaning to that oft-abused word, "accountability", especially when all the stakeholders of the brand can monitor progress every 90 days.

I should add that I have nothing against TV and I don't have any pecuniary interest in any other media, either. Nor has the invitation to speak at this week's seminar hosted by SPS, the Publishers Association, led to a "plug" here for the printed medium. A detailed look at the Indonesian media scene will be featured in this column next Tuesday.

The contributor is an advertising professional, turned researcher and consultant, based in Melbourne. He has lived and worked across the Asia Pacific region, including Indonesia. He remains a regular visitor.