Environment ministry could do more
Saturday, 28 March 2009
A recent seminar-workshop at Gazipur revealed that the ministry of environment has a new project coming up in July to clean up the air in Dhaka, which is so laden with pollutants as to turn this capital city of about 13 million into a virtual gas chamber. Prolonged exposure to heavily polluted air can cause morbid illnesses in the form of various cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, including lung cancer. Who knows how many would pay such penalty for living in Dhaka, one of the world's most populated and polluted cities ?
Much of the noxious gases and suspended particulates, needless to say, are generated by vehicular and industrial exhaust, construction work, waste dumping, incineration and similar activities. The last Air Quality Monitoring Project (AQMP), which expired in December 2008, claims that the annual average particulate matter in Dhaka's air has been rising significantly, after a short respite, following the phase-out of two-stroke engines from Dhaka in 2003-2004. Nobody worried when these polluters were shifted to lesser cities, unfortunately.
According to the World Trade Organisation (WHO), to prevent ill health, fine suspended particulate matter (PM), measured in micrograms per cubic metre, should be no more than 2.5 mcm. For highly polluted cities, however, the interim target is 70 mcm but Dhaka today has nearly three times that amount. After the two-stroke ban, fine particulates had come down by fifty per cent -- from 266 mcm in 2003 to 147 mcm in 2004. But by 2008, AQMP measurements found that it had gone up again -- to 191.83 mcm. As for solid particles (PM -10), it was 330 mcm in 2003 and 238 in 2004. The most recent count is 291 mcm. Much of this is blamed on the rise of diesel-run buses and trucks and a large number of unfit and dilapidated vehicles still plying the capital's roads. At least a quarter of the vehicles in Dhaka are said to be over 20 years old, and these obviously spew out more carbon monoxide and oxides of nitrogen and sulphur than new, reconditioned and well-maintained combustion engines.
Some years ago the environment ministry had tried to enforce the use of catalytic converters in all motor vehicles, supposedly to convert the poisonous exhaust into relatively harmless gas. Critics then had pointed out that it would not be feasible because the catalyst itself had a short life span. It was unlikely that vehicle owners would have replaced it even if it ceased doing the job. In fact, cost concerns and general apathy would have defeated the purpose ----- unless it was meant to help someone make a quick buck on the forced sale of catalytic converters!
Cynicism apart, since it is the very nature of motor vehicles to give off toxic fumes, what the decision-makers ought to do is, control per capita exhaust. Logically, a good quality fifty-seater bus, or better, a sturdy double-decker, pollutes less than a four-seater saloon car. So the move should be, to put a respectable, adequate and efficient public transport system in place, and, at the same time, discourage private cars from plying during peak hours. Many advanced cities have opted for this action to manage traffic congestion and keep car exhaust down.
The environment ministry perhaps could also exercise its authority in standardizing the 'built environment' of vehicles. It needs no telling that the condition of buses, both under private ownership and under Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), is not up to 'capital' standard. Except for a handful of Swedish VOLVOs and Chinese gas-driven buses (which, for some reason are being withdrawn even from profitable routes), most of those serving Dhaka at the moment have not been ergonomically designed, so to say, nor do they abide by the minimum standards of cleanliness. Worst of all, successive governments have ignored the necessity of constructing respectable bus stops that shelter commuters during rain and shine. Dhaka certainly deserves a better, cleaner, more professional, transport service.
Much of the noxious gases and suspended particulates, needless to say, are generated by vehicular and industrial exhaust, construction work, waste dumping, incineration and similar activities. The last Air Quality Monitoring Project (AQMP), which expired in December 2008, claims that the annual average particulate matter in Dhaka's air has been rising significantly, after a short respite, following the phase-out of two-stroke engines from Dhaka in 2003-2004. Nobody worried when these polluters were shifted to lesser cities, unfortunately.
According to the World Trade Organisation (WHO), to prevent ill health, fine suspended particulate matter (PM), measured in micrograms per cubic metre, should be no more than 2.5 mcm. For highly polluted cities, however, the interim target is 70 mcm but Dhaka today has nearly three times that amount. After the two-stroke ban, fine particulates had come down by fifty per cent -- from 266 mcm in 2003 to 147 mcm in 2004. But by 2008, AQMP measurements found that it had gone up again -- to 191.83 mcm. As for solid particles (PM -10), it was 330 mcm in 2003 and 238 in 2004. The most recent count is 291 mcm. Much of this is blamed on the rise of diesel-run buses and trucks and a large number of unfit and dilapidated vehicles still plying the capital's roads. At least a quarter of the vehicles in Dhaka are said to be over 20 years old, and these obviously spew out more carbon monoxide and oxides of nitrogen and sulphur than new, reconditioned and well-maintained combustion engines.
Some years ago the environment ministry had tried to enforce the use of catalytic converters in all motor vehicles, supposedly to convert the poisonous exhaust into relatively harmless gas. Critics then had pointed out that it would not be feasible because the catalyst itself had a short life span. It was unlikely that vehicle owners would have replaced it even if it ceased doing the job. In fact, cost concerns and general apathy would have defeated the purpose ----- unless it was meant to help someone make a quick buck on the forced sale of catalytic converters!
Cynicism apart, since it is the very nature of motor vehicles to give off toxic fumes, what the decision-makers ought to do is, control per capita exhaust. Logically, a good quality fifty-seater bus, or better, a sturdy double-decker, pollutes less than a four-seater saloon car. So the move should be, to put a respectable, adequate and efficient public transport system in place, and, at the same time, discourage private cars from plying during peak hours. Many advanced cities have opted for this action to manage traffic congestion and keep car exhaust down.
The environment ministry perhaps could also exercise its authority in standardizing the 'built environment' of vehicles. It needs no telling that the condition of buses, both under private ownership and under Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), is not up to 'capital' standard. Except for a handful of Swedish VOLVOs and Chinese gas-driven buses (which, for some reason are being withdrawn even from profitable routes), most of those serving Dhaka at the moment have not been ergonomically designed, so to say, nor do they abide by the minimum standards of cleanliness. Worst of all, successive governments have ignored the necessity of constructing respectable bus stops that shelter commuters during rain and shine. Dhaka certainly deserves a better, cleaner, more professional, transport service.