The Sindh Environmental Protection Agency’s successfully concluded scheme – Vehicular Emission Control Programme (VECOP) – should be run on a regular basis to mitigate the menace of air pollution, Sindh Environment and Alternative Energy Minister Muhammad Shaharyar Khan Mahar said on Tuesday during a meeting held to review the project.
“There is a pressing need to continue campaigning against pollution from vehicular emissions that is one of the leading causes of several respiratory diseases,” he added.
Environment and Alternative Energy Secretary Mir Hussain Ali said on the occasion that the PC-IV of the project – a mandatory requirement after the completion of any scheme – has already been submitted to the Planning and Development Department, highlighting its performance.
Earlier, VECOP Project Director Shahid Farhad briefed the minister on the overall performance of the project and said the programme was designed with the aim to initiate a sustainable campaign for monitoring vehicles that could be classified as polluting, both in terms of emissions and noise levels.
Farhad said that the objectives of VECOP include improvement in air and vehicle quality, aesthetics (trees, buildings, monuments, etc) and the health of the commuters, traffic policemen and residents.
The minister was told that the scheme was started in November 2007 and a satisfactory progress was made in hiring technical staff, procurement of vehicular emission and noise monitoring equipments, establishment of data storage and record-keeping system.
The project – reflected in the Annual Development Programme of 2005-2006 – was approved by the Departmental Development Working Party in September 2005 at a cost of Rs 30 million. The cost was revised in July 2007 and August 2009 to Rs 31.45 million and Rs 36.435 million, respectively. Later, it was revised in October 2010 to Rs 44.918 million.
The scheme was funded by Sindh government and successfully completed on June 30, 2011, with 95 percent achievement of its objectives.
Presently the 33-member staff of the scheme including 10 officers and 23 officials is under the process of regularisation in accordance with the provisions of the PC-I of the scheme and its summary has been sent to chief minister for approval.
The minister was also told that regular monitoring and inspection was started from January 2010 and during the last 18 months, about 11,384 vehicles of all categories have been inspected and tested for their emission levels. Out of them, about 3,503 did not comply with the National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS) for vehicles and 1,947 were challaned by the traffic police for violation of the standards.
