Anies Baswedan on New Capital City: Air Pollution Not Relocated to Kalimantan

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan said the planned relocation of the capital city to Kalimantan does not mean the problem of air pollution will also be moved.

Anies made the statement in response to a question from Dino Patti Djalal, founder of the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia, in a discussion entitled Climate Heroes organized by the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia (FPCI) and the U.S. Embassy on Thursday, September 30. The latter asked Anies what would happen in Jakarta if the capital city was moved to Kalimantan.

“Environmental issues, air pollution, are not relocated to Kalimantan. It is only the status that is changed,” said Anies in the forum as quoted from a video uploaded to the FPCI's YouTube channel on Friday, October 1.

According to Anies, even though Jakarta would no longer be a capital city, it would continue to transform to tackle environmental issues. The provincial government, he added, would keep improving public transportation in order to overcome congestion which has a huge impact on the city's air quality.

The former minister of education and culture said the capital city relocation was under the authority of the central government. “But creating a greener city by expanding and integrating mass transports are our agenda. We will keep executing these,” Anies underlined.

Anies said Jakarta is a dense city and governmental activities contributed about seven percent to traffic congestion. The biggest contribution to the city’s traffic is household activities followed by business ones.

“This is about changing the society, and we will continue to do that with or without Jakarta’s status as the capital city. Because this problem is still with us,” said Anies Baswedan.

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ADAM PRIREZA