Bandung is the City with Cleanest Air in ASEAN

Bandung is probably the nearest city from Jakarta that you can visit if you want to breathe fresh air on the weekend. The air temperature of Bandung is usually slightly lower from Jakarta, and the air pollution is also not as bad as the capital city of Indonesia. That is why it’s not at all surprising that Bandung received an award for having the cleanest air, not among other cities in Indonesia but other major cities in Southeast Asia.

The award was announced during the 4th ASEAN Environmentally Sustainable City Award in Brunei on Tuesday, 12th September.

Based on ASEAN’s assessment, Bandung’s government has made sustainable efforts to improve the air quality, such as forming a technical team to control air pollution, running public seminars and workshops about air quality management, and putting vehicles in the city through strict emissions tests.

“Praise be to God, Bandung has won ASEAN Environment Award for the category of metropolitan city with cleanest air quality,” Bandung Mayor Ridwan Kamil wrote on Wednesday, September 13th as quoted from Bandung government official news portal.

Bandung’s government also installs air quality control facilities in the city. There are a total of 27 air pollution monitoring points, and four Air Quality Monitoring System (AQMS) in Dago Pakar, Padjajaran, Gedebage, and Ujungberung. AQMS works to measure the Standard Pollution Index (Indeks Polusi Standard) as regulated in Peraturan Gubernur No 41/1999 about Pollutant Standards Index.

Many of the programs to maintain air quality have been introduced under the leadership of Kamil, who has also launched a weekly ‘Car Free Day’ every Sunday in three different locations in Bandung.

Previously, Bandung, which is also Indonesia’s fourth biggest city, also won an award from the Forestry and Environment Minister in 2015 as the least polluted city in the country—thanks to Kamil’s initiatives.

“Let’s give thanks to those who always try to keep Bandung clean, especially its precious air,” Kamil continued.

Other than Bandung, three other Indonesian cities—Malang, Makassar, and Tulungagung—also received the Clean Water, Clean Land, and Environmentally Sustainable City awards respectively.

Now that you know Bandung has the cleanest air in the country, would you consider moving to the city?