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Indonesia to Introduce 'car Free Day' to Curb Pollution

by Medindia Content Team on Oct 15 2007 1:12 PM

Indonesia's capital will introduce a "car free day" every month even though an experiment last month failed due to poor publicity.

The light traffic in Jakarta during the Eid-ul-Fitr (the end of fasting month of Ramadan) holiday had shown a considerable reduction in air pollution, convincing the capital's administration to have the "car free day" more frequently, Antara news agency Sunday quoted the capital's governor Fauzi Bowo as saying.

"We estimated that 70 percent of air pollution in Jakarta came from vehicle emission," Fauzi said.

Last month, the local government declared the main thoroughfare free from car on a Saturday. But the trial run was poorly communicated, and many people were unawares. The traffic, which was normally light on Saturdays, became heavily congested in Central Jakarta.

With a population of about 10 million, Jakarta is the largest city in Indonesia. It was estimated that there are more than three million vehicles and numerous motorcycles in the city.

Source-IANS
LIN/C


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