MEMORANDUM

To: Anies Baswedan, Governor, DKI Jakarta Province

From: Nafisa Meisa Iskandar
Date: October 1, 2020.
RE: Enhancing Jakarta’s Smart Living, Smart Environment, and Smart Mobility
Initiatives
CC: Professor Junfeng Jiao
Professor Sherri Greenberg
Jakarta is one of the largest coastal megacities in Asia and the capital city and center
of Indonesia’s economy and business activity. Rapid urban growth poses challenges to local
governments. They struggle to manage the increased pandemic risk, increased intensity and
impact of floods, continued environmental degradation, and road congestion in the city.
Jakarta Smart City Initiative initiated in 2015 with the mission to form a New Jakarta that
maximizes public services, providing solutions, and supports sustainable development. To
accommodate this, the local government launched the JAKI app in September 2019 as the
main mobile platform of Jakarta Smart City. It is also part of innovation in its smart
government pillars. The app has been a breakthrough for disseminating data to citizens and
increasing government transparency and trust. It has increased information deliverability
and enhanced citizen participation to solve urban problems. However, this effort is still
preliminary, the lack of integrated solutions is still commonly found. Thus, disaster impact,
air and water pollution, road congestion are more severe over time. The memo will discuss
prominent smart city initiatives such as Korea’s Smart Environment and Smart Living,
Hampton Road Stormsense Project, and Singapore’s Intelligent Transport System to further
expand Jakarta’s smarty city initiative, so that it can alleviate its urban problems.

Background
Jakarta is a province of 10 million people, divided into five cities, 44 sub-districts, and
267 villages. It also contained more than 110 smaller islands. It is also a metropolitan city
called Jabodetabek, the abbreviation of Jakarta as its central city and four satellite cities
Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi. Jakarta is in a state of environmental crisis. Air and
water pollution, congested roads, and floods are the main environmental problems faced by
this city. The severity of these urban problems continued to increase and caused a massive
amount of fiscal loss. From the traffic congestion alone, the economic loss has reached Rp.
12,8 trillioni. Rapid population growth created the demand for new development both for
residential areas and commercial activity. It has outpaced infrastructure development in the
central city, thus emerge informal provision for urban services and the spur of suburban
development by large developers. The informal provision includes the establishment of
informal settlements along the riverbank that exacerbated flood and water pollution. The
continued growth has converted green open space into impervious surfaces, thus
significantly influence the flood occurrence. It has been recorded there are 24-flood events
in around five decades. It means that floods occurred in one every two years with the
increased financial loss, and more people are impacted over time.
Furthermore, the limited affordable housing in the central city stimulates suburban
development, which, coupled with limited public transportation services, has led Jakarta to
be a car-city-centric. Land transportation is one of the primary sources of Jakarta’s air
pollution issue. Waste management facilities are inadequate to accommodate the rate of
7,100-ton waste per dayii. The waste needs to be transferred to a landfill facility 25 miles
away called Bantar Gebang that located in Bekasi District. It has a total capacity of 49 million
tonnes, which already filled 39 million tones by the end of 2018 iii. Local government has
issued various policies to manage these different urban problems fragmentedly, which give
a less significant result. For example, flood issue has been addressed by building a massive
grey infrastructure project that takes years to accomplish without strict enforcement for
land-use change. To curb congestion, one of the main traffic regulations called three in one
traffic rule has been issued since 1994. It restricts that only three or more passengers in a
car can pass through the main roads during peak hours. It got converted to an odd-even
policy ̶ odd license plate only allowed through certain streets and tolls for odd date and vice
versa ̶ in 2016 due to child labor problem. This approach was not addressing the real issues
̶ limited connectivity in public transportation and inadequate affordable housing in the
central city.
Acknowledging these complex problems, the local government has established
Jakarta Smart City Initiatives that aim to optimizes the utilization of Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) to solve urban issues. It can monitor, analyze, and control
various resources in the city more effectively and efficiently. The initiative has six key focus
areas, smart living, smart mobility, smart governance, smart environment, smart economy,
and smart people. This note will focus on three pillars that are directly impacting Jakarta’s
environmental condition, which include the smart environment, smart living, and smart
mobility. Smart environment aims for eco-friendly natural resource management, including
clean air, efficient waste and waste management, reliable and safe water, and green energy.
Smart living seeks to enhance the quality of life and ensure the health and safety of its
resident. Smart mobility aims for better provision of transportation and infrastructure
systems. The latest initiatives that have been issued are the launching of a one-stop service
app called JAKI. It provides access from various official information directly from Regional
Apparatus Organizations (OPD) and Regional Owned Enterprises (BUMD) and various
community services. Through the app, residents can report city problems that should be
addressed by the related department in the next 24-hour working day. Not only limited to
the app, but local government also combined this innovation with other related policies, as
discussed below in detail.
 Key Initiatives
• Smart Environment includes air pollution, waste management, renewable energy, and green
building.
o For air pollution issues, the city has provided a feature called JakISPU in the JAKI app that
allows user to monitor daily air quality index.
o For waste management, the city has changed the usage of the conventional truck into a
compactor truck, which allows it to accommodate 3 times the volume of the conventional
truckiv. Additionally, a 1391 waste transportation unit has been installed with GPS to
better estimates the travel time from waste source to waste facilityv. The local government
also has initiated to establish “L-Box,” a waste facility placed in some of the smaller islands
of DKI Jakarta province that able to burn 1.5-ton waste with limited air emissionvi. Future
plan for waste management includes building five Intermediate Treatment Facility that
can burn 1000 tons of waste for 1-2 hours duration, left only 5% emissions, and can be
utilized as an electric generator (30kWh/ton)vii.
o Green Building Law in 2012, by May 2016, the implementation of the law has reduced
carbon dioxide for about 605k metric tons/year, cost-saving 68.3k per year, and energy
saving for 853,9k mWh/yearviii. It applied to 260 buildings that, in size, have a total of
more than 15 million m2ix.
o Smart and green energy, it includes the upgrade of nearly 90,000 streetlights with smart
energy-efficient LEDx. The streetlights can be monitored remotely, light intensity, and
customizable dimming time based on a particular need that allows cost-saving. Solar PV
has been installed in about 80 schools and less than 10 government buildingsxi.

• Smart Living focuses on enhancing the safety of residents from flood events and other
emergency situations.
o For flood events
▪ Local governments installed Automatic Water Level Recorder in its five major rivers
and dam (Cipinang, Sunter, Krukut, Pesanggrahan, and Item river also Polor Dam).
▪ 5600 CCTV spread across the city to monitor flood events in real-time. This information
is monitored in Command Center, Jakarta Smart City lounge.
▪ The JAKI app also has a feature called JakPantau that provide information about the
height of water level in 8 water gates, 5 upstream monitoring point, the status of 260
water pumps, and area impacted by the flood. The newest information disseminated
through push notification. So that users can have more awareness about the upcoming
situation.
▪ 102 CCTV has been installed in the pump house, water gates, and upstream main river
monitoring point.
o For emergency situations
▪ JakSiaga – another feature in the JAKI app - provides users for an emergency call to
related services such as the Search and Rescue team, police, and firefighters. Also,
 ambulances in the city have been upgraded with GPS to monitor the location and
determine the maintenance time based on the mileage and its operational duration.
▪ JakAman, another app-based platform besides JAKI, provide a specialized channel to
report an emergency event that integrated with 112 emergency call to DKI Jakarta
Local Board for Disaster Management.
• Smart Mobility, include the establishment of public transportation facility and real-time
transportation monitoring services
o Public transportation facility includes extensive bus rapid system, rapid mass transit,
and ongoing project for light rail transit.
o Real-time transportation monitoring services in partnership with Trafi - a Lithuanian
tech start-up - connecting Transjakarta (Bus Rapid Transit) app and other
transportation providers into one single platform. It provides real-time information
connecting not only the bus rapid transit system but also commuter line, other buses,
paratransit, shared taxi, even ride-hailing apps. It can show multiple transportation
alternatives from point to point. Every Transjakarta bus has been installed with GPS
sensors to track its location and route

Analysis
The various policies and innovations have been remarkable, considering that the
smart city initiative has just been launched in the last 5 years. However, the continued
climate change and global challenges should encourage Jakarta to push more integrated
solutions for its urban problems. The adoption of ICT should able to accelerate the progress
toward a New Jakarta. Comparison to other global leaders of smart cities is beneficial to
envision that Jakarta has a huge room for improvement. Seoul and Singapore are the two
examples picked as the top-notch examples, not only because of its bold move but also due
to its similarity in rapid urban growth. Seoul is renowned for its extensive effort for its smart
environment and smart living. Singapore has been pioneering an intelligent transportation
management system. Additionally, better inundation forecast, Stormsenses, will be
discussed, particularly to improved flood disaster mitigation and effort in Jakarta.
Stormsenses has been applied in several coastal cities throughout Hampton Roads, Virginia,
USA.
Seoul pioneered ecosystem restoration to enhance sustainability in its city. The
notable restoration in Seoul is located in the Cheonggyecheon, which was an eyesore to the
town. The restoration required the city to demolish the existing highway structure above the
land. The project yields a great result, not only inviting ecological benefit, it has transformed
the area into a walkable, vibrant urban center and restored the urban culture that further
invites economic benefit. While the main focus in Jakarta is to adopt structural measures
such as river normalization and establishment of flood canals. Instead of solving urban
flooding, this approach accelerates water flow into the downstream area and inviting more
calamity on the low flat land Jakarta. Jakarta Flood Canal is only built to retain water while it
should be designed as urban amenities that also could leverage economic benefit.
 Further to better control its infrastructure system, Seoul uses smart metering tools
that provide consumers with real-time analytic reports of electricity, water, and gas
consumption. This information is displayed graphically and in monetary units, allowing
users to adjust behaviors to reduce utility consumption costs. It is also allowing public
utilities to investigate water, gas, and electricity leakage. In Jakarta, utilities’ leakage and
illegal tapping are the main problems that hinder public utility companies from having a
steady and profitable revenue. Using smart metering will ease the identification for leakage
and illegal tapping that make the utilities network more efficient and profitable.
For waste management, as early in 1995, Seoul has implemented a volume-based fee
system for its waste collection, allowing about 68 percent of household waste is currently
recycledxii. Whereas in Jakarta, to date, the primary approach is using the “end of pipe”
approach. It means that only focusing on handling waste after collection, but not using a
source reduction approach. An uncompartmentalized handcart is commonly used for
primary waste collection. It makes source separation useless and disincentive residents to
divide the recyclable waste and non-recyclable waste. The fee for waste collection is flat and
can be considered too cheap for affluent residents and too expensive for low-income
communities. The over-reliance of end of pipe approach will burden the city budget when
the urban population continues to grow at a significant rate that leads to the budget deficit.
Similar to Seoul, many global leaders’ cities focus on source reduction, and Jakarta is still
lagging behind. It needs to revitalize the handcart and create a partnership with NGO that
focuses on handling recyclable waste.
For green energy, Seoul has launched its flagship energy policy “One Less Nuclear
Power Plant” in 2012. It explained Seoul's target to diversify its energy resources into
hydrogen fuel cells, small-scale hydro plants, smart grid, and power generating sports
equipmentxiii. Other than that, Seoul has adopted OLEV (online electric vehicle technology)
that enables vehicles to transfer electricity wirelessly from the road surface while they are
moving. It utilizes electrical cables buried under the surface of the road as a magnetic field
and receiving devices installed under OLEV, converting it into electricityxiv. Whereas in
Jakarta, alternative energy source other than fuel source is still limited. The utilization of
solar source and smart lighting is still limited in the street and need to be expanded to
commercial and office building to increase energy and cost-saving in Jakarta. Solar PV
installation needs to be extended not only in public utilities such as schools but also in transit
points, commercial buildings, and large residential areas. Jakarta government needs to
incentive this movement. The usage of the smart grid also increasing the reliability of the
power source. The unpredictable blackout will hinder economic activity and have a severe
impact on Jakarta over time.
Seoul also has adopted the reinforcement of green building design standards. Not
only for large buildings but also small-and-medium-sized buildings with 500m3 or smallerxv.
In comparison, Jakarta’s regulation about green buildings enacted in 2012, only targeting
super big lots. The law stipulates only schools or education facilities with size more than
10000m2, hospital or other health facility and hotel over 20,000m2, office buildings, malls,
Apartments, and Mixed Buildings with size more than 50,000m2 has to comply with green
building regulationxvi. With these minimum sizes, it only applies to a minimal amount of high
rise and skyscrapers in Jakarta, to less than a third. This narrow classification misses a huge
opportunity to include smaller commercial buildings and smaller residential complexes to
take part.
Furthermore, for the smart environment aspect, Seoul plans to install as many as
50,000 IoT sensors by 2022 to collect data on fine dust, noise, wind, night light intensity,
traffic movement, and other aspects that influence its residents’ living qualityxvii. Whereas in
Jakarta, air quality sensors are minimal, even combined with the private sensor in total, only
10 availablexviii. It needs more sensors to best capture the highly diverse air condition. Since
land transportation is the primary source of air pollution in Jakartaxix, transportation policy
plays a vital role in air pollution reduction efforts. Motor vehicles number continue to
increase over time, although the growth rate is decreasing, 7.1% in 2012, and about 2.5%
between 2017 to 2019xx. Vehicle emission test becomes mandatory just recently in 2020.
The enforcement of this regulation plays a vital role in the reduction of emissions. Since
emission testing is beneficial to better estimates emission sources from the motor vehicle
but far from efficient to reduce the emission if it is not integrated with transportation policy
and implementing ban for “dirty” vehicles.
Furthermore, for the smart living pillar, Seoul has operated the u-Seoul Safety Service
since 2008. It utilized Location Based Services and CCTV technologies to notify authorities
and family members of emergencies event involving children, the disabled, the elderly, and
people with Alzheimer’s diseasexxi. To ensure the inclusivity, local governments support low-
income households, vulnerable groups, and those in need by providing free of charge or
discounted emergency-alert devices and distributing second-hand smart devices xxii. Local
government persuaded citizens to donate their old devices when they buy a new one. For the
long-term purpose, smart living is not supported by 2D spatial data, but Seoul plans to use a
3D-based map that displays Virtual Seoul to simulates changes of the city in 2021xxiii. By
getting to know how such a change would affect the existing urban environment and
landscape, it aims to have better decision making. JAKI’s features and JakAman have
provided quite comprehensive tools for smart living, although lack of 3D features. But the
inclusivity effort is still limited. Most of the unused phone in Jakarta ended up as e-waste,
which is not regulated well. E-waste is also lack of inadequate facility for storage or
destruction. Thus, it will be a win-win solution if Jakarta’s local government can create a
mandate for its Environment Agency to set up E-waste collection, particularly unused
phones, and redistribute it to people in need.
Additionally, for flood mitigation and response, areas around Hampton Roads, VA,
have been using Stormsense modeling to better forecast inundation using the ‘Internet of
Things’ (IoT) and low-cost water level sensors. Not only it shows real-time conditions, but it
also offers 36-hour in advance of tidal forecasts. This is one of the most advanced forecasts.
The 3-day window allows people to be ready and could create a plan for flood day. If Jakarta
can adopt this forecast, the impact of floods can be reduced and enhance the resiliency of the
communities. Local government also can manage road closures, traffic, a high-risk area
better than before. Thus reduced the fiscal loss and decrease the recovery cost.
 For the smart mobility pillar, Singapore is the precedent of how mobility in the city
should be managed. The effectiveness of this system not only reducing traffic but also give
positive feedback to the reduction of air pollution. Singapore is famously known for its
intelligent transportation system. It uses advanced traffic management systems (ATMS) that
combine multiple sources of transformation information from toll booths, traffic lights, car
parks, and smart roads. ATMs work by changing traffic lights and road signals in real-time,
including the uses of intelligent traffic signals, adjusting rates on toll roads using ERP, and
relaying traffic information to city control centers. The use of intelligent traffic signals allows
elderly and disabled residents to use special RFID cards that extend crossing times when
tapped against traffic light poles at the intersection. Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) is a fee
imposed on the car on the road that varies according to traffic flows. It works as a congestion
charge. Jakarta, in the past, has tried to apply the ERP system, but the policy is canceled
without clear reasoning. There is emerging news that Jakarta replans the implementation
and targets its implementation by early 2021.
Furthermore, Singapore also applies a strict limit on how many new vehicles can be
added to roadways each year using a car certification approach that lasts only for 10 years.
It makes owning a car is very expensive. It is suggested that the car price is doubled than
buying a car in Jakarta or quadrupled than in US cities such as Austinxxiv. It also provides a
single rechargeable fare card as digital transit payment and physical integration between
various modes of transportation. Given that a comprehensive approach that has been
conducted by Singapore, Jakarta can learn that it needs strong regulations and imposed fees
for car ownership to reduce the vehicle numbers on the road. At the same time, it should
continue to expand its public transportation network and enhance its reliance in terms of
timing and capacity. Traffic management systems need to be advanced for such using
artificial intelligence or machine learning system fed by past travel experiences, dynamic
travel information, weather conditions, and traffic incidents data. The combination of public
transportation systems and increased reliability of real-time transportation providers serve
people alternative modes of transportation besides driving. Thus, car usage and congestion
can be reduced and subsequently reduce air pollution. To further disincentivized car usage,
local government can impose progressive fuel prices. It is essential to give the market signals
of car’s negative externalities that can accelerate the adoption of public transportation.

Recommendation
Based on lesson learned in various cities mentioned above, Jakarta’s Smart City Initiative can
be enhanced as follow:
1. SMART ENVIRONMENT
a. Ecological system restoration: Restore the natural condition of 13 rivers flowing
through Jakarta and convert the area into a walkable, vibrant urban center
b. Source reduction for waste management:
 i. Creating a volume-based fee pilot project for waste collection, particularly
in a high-income neighborhood
ii. Enforcing waste sorting at the household level by only picking one
category of trash in one day
iii. Revitalized uncompartmentalized
iv. Capacity sensors installation in the trash bin
v. Partnership with local NGO that handling recyclable waste (such as
Waste4Change)
c. Integration of utilities smart metering into JAKI app:
i. Water and electricity consumption tracking
ii. Leakage and illegal tapping detection and control
d. Green building regulation for smaller building particularly high rises and
skyscrapers that remained uncertified
e. Diversifying and decentralizing energy source:
i. solar panels requirement for green building and incentive for solar panels
installation in the commercial and residential area
ii. renewable energy requirement/incentive for big new land development
iii. electric vehicle for public transportation with in-moving charging facility
iv. solar panels requirement for public transportation facilities
f. Increase the reliability of energy – using smart grid
g. More sensors installation to capture Air Quality Index
2. SMART LIVING
a. 3D displays visual map in the JAKI app and Jakarta Smart City Website
b. Enhancing flood early warning system – using StormSense modeling
c. Push notification on the JAKI app for entering polluted air area
d. Push notification for reported crime
e. Device donation and emergency-related devices giveaway or discount
3. SMART MOBILITY
a. The requirement of car certification and RFID tags in the vehicle
b. The installation of RFID readers in main roads that already services by high
capacity and frequency public transportation
c. ERP implementation in main roads
d. Enhanced current traffic management system to the Advanced Traffic
Management System
e. Intelligent traffic signals for intersection without a pedestrian bridge – disabled
and elderly use different RFID to extend crossing time
f. Increase the capacity and frequency of public transportation while ensuring a
fixed time schedule
g. Limit new development that lack of public transportation access – create a
partnership with developers to develop a transportation system that integrated
with residential areas
i
Mukti, I., & Prambudia, Y. (2018). Challenges in Governing the Digital Transportation Ecosystem in Jakarta: A
Research Direction in Smart City Frameworks. Challenges, 9(1), 14.
https://doi.org/10.3390/challe9010014
EJOLT. (n.d.). Bantar Gebang Jakarta landfill, Indonesia | EJAtlas. Environmental Justice Atlas. Retrieved
ii

September 30, 2020, from https://ejatlas.org/conflict/bantar-gebang-jakarta-landfill-indonesia

iii Jakarta Smart City. (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2020, from http://smartcity.jakarta.go.id
iv
Ibid
v
Ibid
vi
Ibid
vii
Ibid
viii
Jakarta Green Building. (n.d.). Retrieved September 26, 2020, from https://greenbuilding.jakarta.go.id/
ix
Ibid
x
Connected street lighting – Jakarta. (n.d.). Interact. Retrieved September 26, 2020, from https://www.interact-
lighting.com/en-us/customer-stories/jakarta
xi
Tampubolon, A. P., Alfath, A., Damayanti, H., Marciano, I., Simamora, P., Mursanti, E., Arinaldo, D., Giwangkara,
J., Adiatma, J. C., Citraningrum, M., & Tumiwa, F. (n.d.). Tracking Progress and Review of Clean Energy
Development in Indonesia. 72.
xii
Seoul City Profile Feb 2020—SmartCitiesWorld.pdf. (2020.).
xiii
Seoul Metropolitan Government. (2012.). One Less Nuclear Power Plant.
xiv
Is Seoul the world’s smartest city? (2016, May 12). ReadWrite. https://readwrite.com/2016/05/12/is-seoul-the-
worlds-smartest-city-ct1/
xv
Is Seoul the world’s smartest city? (2016, May 12). ReadWrite. https://readwrite.com/2016/05/12/is-seoul-the-
worlds-smartest-city-ct1/
xvi
Governor of DKI Jakarta, (2012). DKI Jakarta Governor Regulation 38 2012.
xvii
Seoul, the world’s best e-government to a smart city; 50,000 IoT sensors to be installed throughout the city -.

(2019, March 13). 서울시 영문. http://english.seoul.go.kr/seoul-the-worlds-best-e-government-to-a-smart-city/

xviii
Jakarta Air Quality Index (AQI) and Indonesia Air Pollution | AirVisual. (n.d.). Retrieved September 30, 2020,

from https://www.iqair.com/us/indonesia/jakarta

xix
Environment Agency of Jakarta, (n.d). Toward Clean Air Jakarta.
xx
Ibid
xxi
International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication Standardization Sector, 2013. Seoul Smart City : A
Case Study. 26.
xxii
Ibid
xxiii
Seoul, the world’s best e-government to a smart city; 50,000 IoT sensors to be installed throughout the city -.

(2019, March 13). 서울시 영문. http://english.seoul.go.kr/seoul-the-worlds-best-e-government-to-a-

smart-city/
xxiv
Cost of Living Comparison Between Singapore, Singapore And Austin, TX, United States. (n.d.). Retrieved
September 26, 2020, from https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-
living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=Singapore&country2=United+States&city1=Singapore&city2=Austin%
2C+TX
EJOLT. (n.d.). Bantar Gebang Jakarta landfill, Indonesia | EJAtlas. Environmental Justice Atlas. Retrieved

September 30, 2020, from https://ejatlas.org/conflict/bantar-gebang-jakarta-landfill-indonesia

Jakarta Smart City. (n.d.). Retrieved September 30, 2020, from http://smartcity.jakarta.go.id