Jakarta Deputy Governor Responds to City's Poor IQAir Rating
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16 June 2022 23:46 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Jakarta Deputy Governor Ahmad Riza Patria commented on the capital city's poor air quality as reported by IQAir. IQair categorized Jakarta's air quality as ‘unhealthy’ based on its air quality index (AQI) on June 15, 2022.
"We will check that information again. Of course, this has our attention. We will evaluate and overcome this issue as Jakarta is pretty congested," said the Deputy Governor at the Jakarta City Hall on Thursday, June 16, 2022.
Riza acknowledged the fact that the vehicle congestion has returned to normal, which contributes to the city's increased pollution levels, and said there are programs already set in place to tackle pollution such as the Langit Biru (blue skies) program.
IQAir ranked Jakarta as the city with the worst air quality in the world on Wednesday, June 15, 2022.
Meanwhile, the pollutant concentration of Particulate Matter (PM) 2.5 was recorded at a level 25.4 times higher compared to the World Health Organization (WHO) standard, making the air quality in Jakarta classified as unhealthy.
With this air quality, IQAir puts Jakarta in the first position as the most unhealthy city, followed by Dubai in the United Arab Emirates with an index of 160, and the City of Santiago in Chile in third with an index of 158.
This is not the first time Jakarta was recorded to have unhealthy levels of air quality. IQAir also noted that Jakarta's air quality data in 2017 had increased by an average of 29.7 micrograms per cubic meter (m3).
MOH KHORY ALFARIZI
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