28 December 2003

VEHICLE POLLUTION

Motorists in Bangkok would face tough emission inspections from January after a three-month trial run forced hundreds of drivers off the streets until they had their vehicle engines fixed, said a senior environmental official yesterday.

The trial run began on the busy Taksin Road in western Bangkok in September and was carried out in an effort to replace a lenient approach in which traffic police were only authorised to fine the polluters. The light penalty proved inadequate to reduce fine soot particles on crowded streets, which have been above the acceptable level for years.

Supat Wangwongwatana, deputy chief of Pollution Control Department, said the recent strict action proved to be more effective than the fine, which was not enough to force drivers to have their vehicles checked and improved. The three-month trial forced 279 motorists to quickly have their polluting cars repaired within 30 days.

Traffic police also banned 321 of the 631 diesel-powered cars that were inspected, a major source of fine soot particles. Only 20 of the cars were found not to have gone through proper maintenance in 30 days and will face what officials called an ``absolute banishment''.

This means drivers will be allowed only to tow, not drive, their cars even though they are going to garages.

Mr Supat said his department is asking approval from environment minister Praphat Panyachartrak to empower traffic police to ban polluting cars by imposing the Environmental Quality Promotion Act.

This will allow the inspection to cover wider areas in Bangkok.

Banning vehicles is among new solutions the department expects to employ to curb the fine dust, known as ``PM 10,'' which can easily lodge on human lungs because of their tiny size.

Also included would be the mandatory use of Euro III engines, which are more environmentally friendly, in July next year, as well as a plan to reduce sulphur in diesel fuel, which will in turn reduce the soot particles by 16%.