6 satellite wings soon to monitor air quality
Staff Correspondent
The Ministry of Environment and Forest has planned to set up six more satellite monitoring stations in Dhaka and Narayanganj in a couple of months to monitor air quality.Installation of two of the stations at Tejgaon and Narayanganj is almost complete. At present there are two such air monitoring stations in the country, one at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban and the other at Chittagong TV station. The stations are being set up under the "Air Quality Management Project" with financial and technical assistance of the World Bank. The WB is however disappointed at the slow implementation of the $5.93 million project, officials said. A two-member delegation led by Task Team Leader of the project and environment specialist of the WB Sameer Akbar yesterday met Environment and Forest Minister Tariqul Islam and discussed ways to expedite implementation of the project. The WB officials noted with concern that the project proforma was still undergoing revision although implementation of the project started in September, 2000 and is due to be completed by December 31 this year. They pointed out that the disbursement of funds for the project remains at only 37 percent till now. The team however appreciated government steps to improve air quality in the capital and said it has improved by 40 percent as two-stroke autorickshaws and old vehicles were phased out. Quoting their studies, the WB officials said health hazards and diseases related to air pollution drastically reduced in Dhaka due to the improvement of air quality. The city dwellers could save $374 million a year needed for treatment of various diseases if grossly polluting diesel vehicles and old vehicles are phased out, they thought. Tariqul Islam appreciated the WB assistance for improving air quality in Bangladesh and assured that his ministry would take immediate steps to expedite implementation of the project. He ordered high officials to complete installation of four more satellite air monitoring stations in Dhaka and one each in the divisional headquarters of Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi, Sylhet and Barisal, and one more in Narayanganj. State Minister Jafrul Islam Chowdhury, high officials and WB environmental specialist Jitendra Shah were present at the meeting.
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