Jakarta named world’s most polluted city

JAKARTA, (Reuters): Indonesia’s capital Jakarta has been named the world’s most polluted city after data was revealed by Swiss air quality technology company IQAir.

(Rizky Putra, Jakarta resident) “I still use a mask. My family and I, my wife and children definitely use masks. Secondly, we reduce the use of private vehicles, for example, I go to the office using the commuter train and thirdly at home we use an air purifier.”

Jakarta residents have long complained of toxic air from chronic traffic, industrial smoke and coal-fired power plants

(Nathan Roestandy, co-founder of Air quality app Nafas Indonesia): “There are a number of factors. The first is motorized vehicles, and unfortunately, our emission standards are still very low. The second is industries – smoke from factories, smoke from coal plants, these two combined are the biggest factors.”

President Joko Widodo says there is a solution to Jakarta’s pollution problem: to move the country’s capital city to Nusantara in 2024, which his government is currently building from the ground up on Borneo island.