Source ::: AFP
JAKARTA • Indonesia's environment minister defended yesterday his proposal to ban sales of new cars in a bid to slash pollution levels, amid concern from local automakers.
Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar said the plan could be introduced if new anti-pollution measures did not improve air quality in smog-filled cities.
"The ban is a warning from me as environment minister because the air quality is already at a really bad level in some rapidly growing urban areas," Witoelar said.
"We need to stop the sale of new cars, at least we need to have a pause of new car production, unless they (carmakers) produce friendly new cars that use gas, biofuels or electricity," he said.
The minister said he would seek support from government colleagues for the proposal if the new measures proved unsuccessful.
The moves include publicly grading cities from the dirtiest to the cleanest. Indonesia had already introduced new emission standards based on international guidelines, he added.
The capital Jakarta and some other cities suffer chronic smog levels and traffic congestion is a major problem.
The auto industry warned the move would impact heavily on production and jobs, and said the minister seemed unaware the industry was already complying with international environmental standards.
The Indonesian Vehicle Producers Industry Association, whose members include the nation's biggest car dealer PT Astra International, called on the minister to get serious on pollution and crackdown on other industries and power plants.
"Pollution from vehicles is still nothing compared to other pollution sources," association general secretary Freddy Sutrisno said.
"The government should also come up with policies which help reduce urbanisation, spread out industries to other islands and take decisive action in battling forest fires," he said.
"And most important, they should set down long term policies to enable thorough preparation for their implementation."
Witoelar acknowledged the social impact of the ban would be horrendous for many Indonesians. But he said pollution from vehicles was also damaging, contributing to global warming.
"It's true that the ban would have an impact on Indonesian economic growth but we need to understand the impact of pollution on our planet would be bigger in the future if we don't try to stop from now causes of climate change."
He said he was concerned about rising levels of private car ownership which some data shows increasing at 11 per cent a year.
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