March 2004

On its second day, the three-day International Conference on Clean Air in Asian Cities (March 30April 1) organised by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), debated the challenges that confront Asian cities in terms of two- and three-wheeler vehicular technology and vehicle inspection and maintenance.

These are formidable challenges. More than 70 per cent of vehicular fleets in Asian cities including New Delhi consist of smoke-belching two- and three-wheelers. While most South-East Asian cities have recognised the danger and taken recourse to stringent regulations, we remain indifferent and apathetic.

Beijing, Dhaka, Bangkok, San Fernando City some of Asias most vibrant megapolises are taking proactive steps to control emissions from the burgeoning numbers of their two- and three-wheeler vehicles. Speaking at the days first session in New Delhis India Habitat Centre, policymakers, governors and technical gurus from these cities pointed out that strictly enforced, leapfrogging regulations were the panacea they had opted for and other cities could follow their lead.

In Bangkok, the city of two-wheelers, motorcycles constitute 42 per cent of the vehicle fleet, and contribute to 48 per cent of particulate and 32 per cent of hydrocarbon emissions from vehicles. Ninety per cent of these motorcycles were two-stroke till 2000. According to Supat Wangwongwatana, deputy director general of the Pollution Control Department, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Thailand, the Government of Thailand took a three-pronged approach to control noxious emissions from motorcycles: introduction of technology to reduce white smoke emissions, setting up of stringent emission standards and establishment of a credible inspection and maintenance (I&M) programme.

The measures had a tremendous impact: the share of sales of two-stroke motorcycles nosedived from 54 per cent in 1999 to about 2 per cent in 2003. The on-road share of two-stroke motorcycles went down from about 96 per cent in 1999 to 40 per cent in March 2004. Particulate emissions went down to 14 per cent in 1997 from 48 per cent in 1994.

In Bangladesh, the government has successfully implemented a ban on two-stroke three wheelers in Dhaka city. According to SMA Bari, director of Engineering Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, the government has also found public support for the ban through a survey. Since 2002, when the phase-out of two-stroke three-wheelers occurred in Dhaka, there has been a dramatic 25-40 per cent fall in PM2.5 concentrations. There have also been significant reductions in CO and hydrocarbon emissions. The government has also undertaken an important initiative to promote the use of CNG in vehicles.

Another example of a successful political initiative was presented by Mary Jane Ortega, mayor of San Fernando City in the Philippines, who has engineered the conversion of two-stroke tricycles in her city to four-stroke through regulatory and fiscal incentives. She has also introduced resolutions to ban 1970s-model tricycles by 2003 and 1980s-model tricycles by 2004.

The days second session focused on the absence of and hence the need for an effective I&M programme for diesel vehicles as well as two- and three-wheelers. John Rogers, international expert on inspection and maintenance system, said that particulate emission from diesel vehicles is a major concern. "Contribution to particulate pollution diesel vehicles is far more than the number of vehicles indicate," he pointed out. An effective I&M programme must be able to control the gross polluters, he added.

Connecting the issues of the air in our cities and what it does to our health, Twisha Lahiri, head of department of neuroendocrinology at the Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute, Kolkata, cited the results of a recent study conducted by the institute. The study involved non-smoking adults from Kolkata and Delhi against matched controls from the relatively less polluted Sunderban Islands in West Bengal, and school children from the two cities against controls from some districts of rural West Bengal. According to the study, upper respiratory symptoms (URS) like common cold, running or stuffy nose, sinusitis and sore throat were present in 58 per cent adults examined in Delhi and 74 per cent in Kolkata compared with 34 per cent in controls. Lower respiratory symptoms (LRS) including dry cough, wheeze and chest discomfort were prevalent in 60 per cent in Delhi, 68 per cent in Kolkata in contrast to 31 per cent in controls. Lung function was impaired in 46 per cent of adults in Delhi and 56 per cent in Kolkata against 21 per cent in controls.

The conference, which on its first day saw international experts, regulators and civil society groups echoing the need for a technological leapfrog in the Asian region to achieve clean air, is scheduled to conclude on April 1 with a public meeting.